Potluck
by Lovingh3art
Summary: What happens when characters from nine different tv shows and movies are brought together in a mysterious and dangerous world, and forced to work together to survive? Featuring characters from Logan, Stranger Things, Harry Potter, The Flash, Beauty and the Beast, Arrow, Doctor Who, Rogue One, and Power Rangers.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer- I do not own any of the characters from Stranger Things, Logan, Beauty and the Beast, The Flash, Arrow, Doctor Who, Rogue One, and Power Rangers that appear in this fanfic. This is simply a story I want to tell for fun, and not for gain.**

PROLOGUE

The universe was something to be amazed with. It was almost hard to describe sometimes. One could sum it up as an infinite vortex, a giant library with individually unique books. Others could call it a mind-hurting enigma. And yet it had secrets, answers nobody could ever realize. Whether they were in the stars or the immense vacuum of blackness that drained the life instantly of anyone's lungs, they made it all the more interesting.

Somewhere, there was someone who could see it all. He looked at everything – it was all so jumbled in his vision. He perceived multiple mirror images of a man in a hood, watching over his city. A madman in a blue box that kept shuffling into problems left and right. Teenage magicians defining their destinies at a secret school.

The images started to pour, more and more, into his brain. Children looking for their friend in a small town, unaware of the dark forces close. Love blossoming between a captor and his captive. The aged ronin, out for one last ride. And rebels, filled with hope, on a suicide mission to save the galaxy.

But when he looked at himself, at the environment he resided in, he saw nothing. His palace of a place was cold, miserable, and cursed. He had not known any of these worlds in a multiverse.

But he wanted to.

A bubbling desire to unite them started to form in his mind. Then, like a virus, it took complete hold.

"Yes," he said. "I'll do just that."

Blue energy built from his spine to his white fingertips. He felt it pour out and envelop him. The hope he had just gained helped move it along. After a minute or two, he was now covered in it.

And he had the perfect idea of what to do with it.

Far away, in the other worlds, things began to change. White flashes appeared, left and right, quick as a second.

The madman in the box, and a young woman, evaporated into the white flashes.

The tired and aged man, and the little girl who did not talk much, disappeared.

The masked archer, and a woman of considerable digital skill, followed into the white.

The man as fast as lighting ran into the ball of white. The woman he loved, as virtuous as he was, tagged along by fading into the bright glow.

In the midst of a battle, two of the freedom fighters ascended.

Out in the courtyard of ice and longing, the captive woman and her beast of a captor found themselves transported within a second before they could notice.

Two children, one with a love for Eggos, disappeared into white, to the shock of their friends.

Teenagers imbued with powerful abilities panicked as their bodies were moved away into a white blast.

And young wizards, a spark of hidden love between them, were gone before they even knew it.

The being smiled. Soon, everyone would meet. Some would bond. Some would clash. But it didn't matter. He wouldn't be alone anymore. The pure thrill would make up for it all.

"Fun."


	2. The Friend and the Companion

CHAPTER ONE

The Friend and The Companion

The first thing that Bill could tell was that she couldn't see anything properly. At least, at first. It looked a lot like mist. Blue mist. And it was everywhere.

Once she felt her hands, she managed to pull herself up and get onto his knees. She felt her head, especially her white jacket and Prince shirt underneath, but she couldn't feel anything wrong. Her hair felt fine. The only thing that mattered was the mist. Then she noticed round shapes hidden in the vagueness of the mist. She suddenly realized; They were trees.

As far as she knew – being a 20-something young person – nowhere on Earth had blue trees and a mist that gave the once-in-a-while fog a run for its money. She began to walk forward, and saw the trees were definitely not of Earth. Thin blue veins of light cyan color protruded from the base and appeared all over. Additionally, the branches were incredibly long and bended into circular patterns. Bill started to worry.

Then she realized how much of a prat she was being. She knew the Doctor, and he knew exactly these sort of alien things. They were most likely on an alien planet. For all she knew, he and the TARDIS were nearby, and he could tell her what the heck was going on. Piece of cake.

Bill turned around. "Doctor?" She turned again, looking wearily at the surrounding mist. "Doctor, are you out here? It's me, Bill!"

No response. A determination rose in her, and she decided to search the area. Part of her didn't want to leave her spot, but she figured that if the Doctor was around, it was a wiser choice to look for him than wait for hours. Foots plodding one after another, Bill walked at a steady pace around the premises.

A good while later, Bill found herself in a misty forest that still was unrecognizable. She checked her phone, finding out twenty minutes had elapsed while she was walking around. Even worse, she couldn't figure out which path she had taken, mainly due to the mist.

"Great," Bill said with a heavy breath. "Now you've gotten yourself in a real problem, Bill. Ugh! Where the heck am-"

Bill's personal talk was cut short by a high-pitched shout from somewhere nearby. She got herself composed and tried to listen again. Several seconds elapsed, and then she heard it.

"Eleven!"

 _That sounded like…a kid_ , Bill thought. _What is a kid doing out here, in the middle of the unknown? To be fair, anyone could say the same thing of me._ Not deciding to think any more on the subject, she dashed off towards the sound, with no indication of what lay ahead.

Mike's senses were in a frenzy. One second, he, Lucas, and Dustin had been talking about searching for the Upside Down in his basement. Eleven has been looking oddly nervous in her disguise. The next, he saw a flash of white take over her and fell onto a patch of grass in a misty environment. He didn't know much about where he was, but there was at least one thing he knew: he wasn't in Hawkins anymore.

He was running, trying to find her. A portion of him worried that this was the Upside Down, but another sliver of himself knew he had never been to there, and speculating wouldn't help. El was out there, portably scared and lonely. He had to find her.

"Eleven!" He cried out again, hoping for an effect as he ran. Nothing happened. His eyes darted everywhere, from the misty trees to the twigs he shoes crunched on. He couldn't see her. Something inside of him became more alert, and Mike couldn't tell what it was. It was an unfamiliar feeling, but whenever he thought of El, it got warmer. And he didn't want to let it go.

Just as Mike was running faster, his foot connected with some kind of giant bump and he fell, face first. "Oof!" he cried. Dirt festered in his mouth, and anger in his head. As he was getting up, he heard footsteps to his side and turned.

Someone was coming out of the mist. "Kid! Are you alright?" It was a woman, he could tell from the voice. As she came out into the open, he could see her appearance. She was tall, thin, dark-skinned, and had a black afro for hair. She wore a grey jacket, with a parallel white and black shirt underneath. The look on her face was of genuine concern – something he realized they both shared.

Mike looked at her and said, panting, "Yeah. I think so."

She looked at him again, suspicious this time. "What's your name? I'm Bill." She extended her hand, this time the look of suspicion fading from her view.

After a moment, Mike willingly took it. "I'm Mike. I'm looking for a friend."

"Out here? Seems a bit weird, right?"

"I-I don't really know. I've never seen this place before. Do you know what this place is?" he asked innocently.

Bill said, "Honestly, I have no clue. I was showing Pokémon Go to a friend, and then I just magically woke up here."

Mike was astonished. "Hey! That's what happened to me too!"

"Well," Bill said, "guess that makes two for 'magically woke up in a deserted misty land'."

He found her funny attitude odd. "Listen, it's been nice to meet you and all, but I have to look for my friend." He turned to leave.

"Hey! Wait!" Bill exclaimed. "I'm looking for my friend too. He's probably around here as well. Mind if I tag along?"

Unsure but overall fine with it, Mike said, "Okay."

"Sweet!" Bill said, looking positively excited. "Got any idea where to go?"

"This way," Mike said as he pointed towards a path enveloped in mist and flanked overhead by trees. He started walking, and the otherwise various Bill followed suit.

After they had walked for some time, Bill decided to try to get to know Mike a bit more – in the midst of walking through the mist, of course.

"So, this friend of yours. What's their name?"

"Eleven," Mike said while focusing on the path. "She's a cool girl. Not a popular one, but special. She's helping me out with a problem back home."

"What's so special about her?" Bill asked out of curiosity.

Mike hesitated. "I…don't know if I should say. You wouldn't believe me."

Bill gave him a funny face and laughed gently. "Trust me, Mike, I'm the one who've seen things you wouldn't believe. I've survived evil puddles from space and killer emoji robots. Trust me, I can handle it."

Mike, still walking, took a little while to discern whether she was trustworthy or not. He decided he was the former. He took a clear deep breath, came to a halt, and looked at her through the uncertain mist.

"A couple of days ago, my best friend, Will Byers, went missing. Our entire town of Hawkins has been looking for him. The police, our sheriff, even his mom and brother – but nobody knows where he went. The cops told us not to look for him, but I and his other friends – Lucas and Dustin – did. We went out near Mirkwood the other night, and then we found her."

"Eleven?" Bill asked.

"Yeah. She was in a yellow hospital gown, and real wet. We brought her back to my parent's house and let her sleep in the basement. She seemed weird at first, but then she started acting….off."

Bill was seriously intrigued now. "How…off?"

Mike gave her a serious look. "She can do things you think are impossible. She can turn on radios and televisions with a thought. She can lift objects and close doors in a twitch, and move things with her mind. They give her nosebleeds, which of course suck. But somehow, she also knows about Will. She told us he's in some place called the Upside Down."

"Upside Down?"

"Yeah. It's a parallel dimension. Our science teacher, Mr. Clarke, told us that a massive amount of energy could create a breach to another dimension, and some weird stuff was happening at Hawkins Laboratories recently."

"Why would Will be in this…alternate dimension?" Despite her space travels with the Doctor, Bill was starting to really get confused. It seemed like a topic out of her depth.

"We think he was taken by something. A creature…we call it the Demogorgon, after Dungeons and Dragons. We were about to track it down, but then El and I disappeared and came here. That's why I have to find her; so we could go back and find him."

Bill blinked. In two minutes, this boy had changed in her mind from a kid out to find someone to a selfless, young person. He reminded her of a younger version of herself, and in that moment, Bill realized that he could be trusted.

Mike figured she must have realized that, because he decided to return back the trust. "So, who is your friend?"

"Well, he's…a doctor," Bill said. "At least, that what his name is."

"So he helps people?"

"Not medically," Bill said. "He's... this alien. But he looks like an old guy. He's smart and quirky, and he seems a bit cold and stubborn sometimes. But when push comes to shove, he'll do whatever it takes to keep people safe."

Mike had a puzzled look on his face, which was easily seen through the fog. "Are you joking or something?"

Bill was taken aback. "Heck no," she said with a sly look. "He's real. We go on adventures all the time in his police box. It's bigger on the inside. Called it a kitchen once. The point is, me and him get to explore the universe, and fight monsters too."

"Monsters?"

"Yeah, and trust me, it's not pre-"

"Look!" Mike pointed excitedly.

Bill looked in the direction of which he had pointed. On the ground not too far ahead of them, was a blond wig of hair laying on the ground. Puffs of mist obscured it, and she realized that if not for Mike's timely interruption, she might've never have seen it.

He ran up to it, knelt down, and picked it up with a tender touch. "What is that?" Bill asked with curiosity.

"It's…Eleven's," Mike said. He turned to Bill, determination in his youthful eyes. "We need to find her, and fast. I think she's in danger."

 **Ooo! The ploy thickens! Hope you guys like this. Next: The Girls Who Don't Talk. And I think you might know who they are...**


	3. The Girls Who Don't Talk

**Hey guys! I'm back and ready to give you the 2nd chapter. Sorry for the time gap, but this took some time to think out.**

 **More are on the way, and I want to thank those who are reading this. In part, Pokemonpotter2005, I saw your review and I am grateful for your support.**

 **So without further ado, here is the 2nd chapter of** _ **Potluck**_ **!**

CHAPTER TWO

The Girls Who Don't Talk

Darkness.

Mist.

I see light. It blinds me. Where am I?

I look around. There is a forest. Blue tree coursing with veins. I've never seen them before.

Then I think. Where is Mike? "Mike!" I yell, hoping for something.

But nothing.

...

She spent an hour, searching around what appeared to be her new home. Puffs of smoke and mist continually pushed themselves into her face, like she was a car racing along a highway. Eleven had never been so scared, without friends and no idea where she was. The only thing that scared her more was Papa, and the bad men he was allied with. With Mike gone, would they find her? Would she become subject to more experiments?

Running underneath a low-hanging branch, she suddenly came to realize just how hot the wig was. Her emotions got the better of her, and Eleven ripped it off. Now exposed to the mist, her short hair reminded her just how much it was vulnerable to temperature.

But none of that mattered. She knew in her heart that she had to find someone who could help her. Get her back to Will and his house. Then she'd be safe.

So for the next several moments, she focused solely on that. As she walked through the mist and under the trees, she noticed the veins glowing bluer. Things were getting stranger by the minute. Once, she thought she saw a glowing blue swirl of energy in the far distance, but when she blinked again, it was gone.

Finally she decided to rest on the ground. Leaning against one of the mysterious blue trees, she slowly rubbed its bark. The texture was soft, not too rough, but also not too light. The circular branches caught her attention next. Interestingly enough, they didn't move at all. Eleven wondered if this was somehow due to the natural behavior of the tree, or something else.

She turned her gaze back to the horizon, still enveloped in mist. There wasn't any way to tell if this…place had any kind of sunlight or not. And running wasn't getting her anywhere. What else could she do? She thought on that for a minute, and then decided to try something else. She decided to listen.

Eleven straightened her legs out, arms at her sides, and closed her eyes. She breathed, slow as a turtle, and then it happened. It was as if her conciseness was being divided and spread across a patchwork of space and time; she could feel the environment. There were shrill calls, gusts of wind, and more of the same trees. She could see the great fog surrounding it all, too dense for her mind's eye to pierce. Suddenly, she saw it. A glimpse. There was a faint rhythm in the mist. She breathed slower, and tried even more to be patient.

It was what she had seen before, but this time it wasn't a blue flame. Instead, the subject was some sort of machine. It had the appearance of a metal antelope, with flat robotic arms and a cylindered head. In the center of the head was a blue eye coursing with the energy she had mistaken it for initially. It moved like a tiger, swerving its head as if looking for trouble. Eleven wondered exactly what it was. From her sense of it, she could tell that it was nervous and on edge. It was looking for something, and she soon feared that it might be her.

Slowly but surely, Eleven's conciseness retracted back to her spot next to the tree. She opened her eyes and reassured herself that she was safe, but she didn't fully know if that was true. Her next step rested on an ultimatum: either stay in the misty area, or look for this creature and possibly get home.

She decided to choose the latter.

Walking for a good hour, Eleven finally stopped to pant for breath. And then she saw it. The mist tried its best to cloak the robot, but ultimately the creature she'd seen from before was visible. It looked to be sniffing some grass through its orb, maybe like a nose.

Once Eleven stepped forward, however, the creature's orb of a head darted in her direction. She stood still, fear rising in her as it looked at her intently. Its blue eye shrunk, a robotic scream emerging. It propelled itself forward, antlers raised in her direction and charging.

As the creature was just about to slam into her, Eleven raised her hand. It stopped, force it was unfamiliar with lifting it into the air. Strained with bloodshot eyes, she concentrated. The power emanating from Eleven shot the creature several feet backwards, right into a tree. The impact didn't kill it, but serious injuries had been sustained; pools of blue liquid leaked out, tainting the grass. It could feel the damage, but still managed to get its wounded body up and standing.

Another look at the creature, and Eleven was not willing to let it hurt her again. Both tensed; she began to prepare her power, it about to charge with an injured fury.

"Aaarrrghghhh!"

Eleven turned to the right. She gawked at the sight; a girl her age was running at the robot. She was dressed in a blue jacket with a rainbow shirt underneath, and sported an angry look. But the weird thing about her was her hands. They were holding three silver blades in each, sharp and pointed. With a yell of fury, the girl jumped and stabbed the robotic antelope with both hands.

The two fought, and Eleven watched in shock, observing with impulse. The girl raised her knifed fist from the robot and prepared to strike again. To the advantage of the machine, it managed to raise a hood and kicked her off. Landing with an "oof!" the girl snarled back. But the machine was ready to pounce more, and soon attempted to crush her.

It was here that Eleven knew that she had to help. So with all she could muster, she focused her power and held the robot in place. It couldn't move, the girl puzzled as to why. Then she stabbed the machine in the face. Sparks flying and a robotic whine apparent, it finally fell on the ground, dead.

Seconds passed. The girl with the claws turned round and looked at Eleven.

"Estas bien?" the girl asked. Eleven didn't know what she had said, and gave her a confused look. Guessing she couldn't understand her, the girl said "are you okay? Sorry, I don't know when to talk in Spanish or English to people."

Eleven nodded to signal a yes. She didn't fully trust this girl yet.

Her companion seemed to understand. "I'm Laura," she said. "What's your name?"

Feeling the courtesy of at least saying who she was – away from the bad men – Eleven begrudgingly and slowly rolled up her left sleeve, flashing her arm towards Laura. The 011 marker could be clearly seen. Upon seeing it, Laura's face changed to shock.

"Who did that to you?" she asked, inching closer. El flinched, but something about the other girl seemed okay now. Her senses were telling her she could be trusted. As far as she could predict, they both had something in common.

"Papa", she whispered. "The bad men."

Laura grimaced. She looked down at her claws, and to Eleven's shock, they sheathed right back into her skin. Looking back at her new friend, she said, "bad men did this to me, too. Hombres muy malos."

Understanding flooded between the girls. For a moment, they both seemed to know what the other was feeling; alienation, fear, doubts, worry. And their being together at least eased the pain. For some seconds.

"Why are you here?" Laura asked.

"Don't know. I…was with friends…and now I'm here," Eleven replied in her quiet fashion. She pointed to Laura, indicating the same question simply.

"No clue, either. I was running from the men who created me, and my padre – Logan – we were sitting in the truck. Next thing, I woke up here." Laura peered down as she said this.

Both girls heard something and turned. There was no one, but the duo saw something different this time. The mist was getting darker; night was approaching. They looked at each other.

"Rest. Tonight," Eleven commented.

Laura nodded in agreement. She was ready to call it quits. "There", she whispered, pointing to a nearby tree. There were two bushes right next to it, and she assumed to some extent that they would provide for good cover. Eleven saw what she had pointed at and agreed.

Slumping on the ground, both girls lay next to each other. Eleven stared at the black of the sky peeking in through the tree's bushes. Laura looked at her new friend. She wondered if she was a mutante – like her – but figured that they had had enough questions for today. However, some still remained; where were they, and where was Logan?

"Where do you think our amigos are?" Laura sked quietly, staring up into the trees like Eleven.

"I don't know." Eleven turned to her, a sudden fire in her eye. "But we have to find them. We have to."

And with that end note, both girls journeyed into the recesses of sleep.

...

Far away, the puppeteer smiled. It was beginning. The people he'd brought to this world were starting to meet. It was only a matter of time before they united and confronted him.

And learned what he was planning.

 **Ooh! Mystery and intrigue! I bet you guys are all wondering who this guy is. For a later time, my friends. But for those seeking a sneak peek, the next chapter will see two people meet; a rogue out to destroy the Empire, and a madman in a box. But WHO are they? Hmmm!**


	4. Doctor Who?

CHAPTER THREE

Doctor Who?

"Hang on, Bill!" The Doctor exclaimed, a mix of fun and worry in his tone.

"Are you kidding me?" she said out of exclamation. "And I thought this'd be like a plane ride, calm and peaceful!"

"Plane ride?" The Doctor replied back, presently having a lot to deal with. "Travelling through time and space isn't a piece of cake; it's…bumpy!"

Bill rolled her eyes as she grabbed for the nearest railing. "Well, next time you talk about going to Egypt or a futuristic London, I'll think about that first!"

The TARDIS was currently in a state of flux. The Doctor and his companion had been heading towards a new destination, a sunny mess of fields in 14th-century France perfect to relax upon. Unfortunately, the time-travelling box had been hit by a series of bumps, and sparks were literally flying from the consoles everywhere. Luckily for the Doctor, his plastic companion Mr. Huffle was still stationed to his spot near the central nav computer. _If he fell off_ , he thought, _all hell would break loose_.

A few more bumps later the TARDIS finally relapsed into its normal peaceful position. Bill relaxed, letting go of the railing and stepping a little to make sure she could stand properly. "Boy, that was nuts!" she exclaimed. "So are we in France yet?"

The Doctor, now collected, looked at the console display. "I don't think so…Not even close! How many brains do you have, you silly blue box? We're not even on earth!" He inspected the graph more closely. They appeared to be in some sort of vast region of empty space, far from any life he knew of.

"Doctor?"

"Yeah, Bill?"

"Well, where are we?"

"From what the graph here says," he replied, "We're in some sort of wild space. Maybe the graph got messed up, or-". He didn't finish his sentence, as his ears picked up a weird sound behind him. Turning, the alien soon discovered that Bill has simply vanished.

"Bill? Bill, where are you?"

No answer.

"Okay Bill," he said. "Not funny. Hide and seek on this ship is not funny. You don't want to go exploring; trust me, my previous regeneration had to go through hell after doing that." Still nothing.

Seriously worried now, The Doctor had taken one step when the TARDIS shook violently once again. "Nuts! What's wrong now?"

Before he could say anything else, the floor shook and he slid right into a pole. He felt pain in stomach, but that was unimportant; the TARDIS was moving, and some force other than him was doing it.

He was in some serious trouble.

"Here we go again!"

…

The valley bent like a backward spoon, a large gap unfolding from the tall hill on top. Shrubbery was found within and spread out like crumbs on a table. And the fog covered much of it from view. However, someone could easily find it if they walked around.

Cassian Andor did just that.

He had no idea where exactly he was. He faintly remembered talking to Jyn aboard their craft after her father had died. He'd said he could've taken the shot to kill him, but didn't. Then as she was about to blame him, he felt fuzzy and saw both of them disappear in bright flashes of white light.

Now he was here. He had no idea where "here" was. He didn't know of any planet in the Outer Rim this desolate. On the upside, it didn't have any signs of Imperial presence, but he still didn't know where Jyn was. That's what he figured. If he had been transported by the light here, then she must've been too.

All his Rebel training flashed in his brain. He'd tried searching for nearby life, but so far all he saw was the common mist and the blue flashes of flame in the distance. His rebel communicator was jammed, and two hours of walking was beginning to wear him out. So Cassian decided to stop for a bit at the bottom of the gorge he'd stumbled upon.

 _Jyn, where are you?_

And then as if the universe answered his beck and call, he heard something. It was hard to describe; like a laser being replayed over and over, again and again. It was far off, but he was able to pick it up. Out of the distance, he saw the source of the sound. It was… a giant blue box that read "police." And it was spiraling, back and forth, until it zoomed right into the far off meadow shadowed by the blue trees. Its impact was definitely felt.

Caspian gasped in awe. "What the hell?"

…

"Gheh! Bollocks." The Doctor exclaimed after recomposing himself. He was shocked by the amount of damage to the TARDIS. Wires lay exposed, the psychic console had a gaping crack in it, and one of the railings was broken. A feeling of intense pity worked into him. He felt bad for the ship, which definitely was alive, and hoped that it would heal up soon.

After some more "guilt" for the TARDIS' current condition, the Doctor produced his sonic and decided to try to scan for Bill. The screwdriver indicated a life sign outside. "Well, time to explore," he grimaced. "Might as well try."

He opened the big blue doors and walked outside to an odd environment. Blue trees and an intense mist were everywhere. It was almost something the Ice Warriors might like. Then again, they preferred the cold, and this was nowhere near that. And that's when he saw it.

On the ground lay some sort of necklace. The centerpiece was what appeared to be a transparent crystal. Curious, the Doctor picked it up and scanned it with his sonic. However, according to his screwdriver, this kind of crystal didn't exist.

"Doesn't exist?" He pondered out loud. "This isn't making a bunch of sense at all… First Bill disappears, then I crash on a mysterious planet, and now I find a crystal that isn't part of the known universe? This is…bonkers! Ah, who am I kidding? There's got to be some sort of explanation here…"

"Stop right there!"

The Doctor whirled around and faced a man in a brown-greyish jacket. He sported black hair and a goatee, carrying an extremely mechanized gun. He didn't look friendly at the moment.

"Who are you?"

"Better question," the Doctor replied, "Who are you?"

"Don't play games," Cassian said. "Are you working for the Imperials? What is this place?"

Puzzled, the Doctor responded. "First, I'm the Doctor, and I'm not affiliated with any "Imperials" that I know of. Second, I've no idea of where we are. You?"

"That doesn't matter," Cassian scoffed. Then as he was about to ask more questions, he saw something in the "Doctor's" grasp: Jyn's Khyber Crystal necklace. He suddenly became more serious.

"Where did you get that?" he demanded impulse, slightly raising his blaster towards the older man.

"Whoa, Sonny," the Doctor replied. "Take it easy."

"I will when you answer the damn question!"

"Since when do you order me around?" the Doctor asked.

Before either man could escalate the conversation, something extremely weird happened. A whisking blue flame appeared out of nowhere and slammed into Cassian's face. He fell backward onto the ground, and the Doctor became concerned he might have been burned burns. "You alright?" he asked.

Cassian's response was a scream as he raised his blaster and fired a poorly-aimed shot at the Time Lord. Now knowing he was in danger, the Doctor dodged and aimed the screwdriver at Cassian's blaster. A short squeak proved that the weapon had been short-circuited. However, this didn't prevent Andor from jumping in anger and knocking the Doctor into the ground.

As the twos struggled, the latter saw that Cassian's eyes were lit blue and intense and passionate. He wriggled, but the younger man's grip prevailed. The Doctor knew that he was going to kill him, and ultimately decided to try one last resort. Using his one free hand, he quickly touched his index finger to the man's forehead, entering his mind. Instantly, Cassian's rage subsided and he fell asleep. The blue flame lingered before disappearing.

The Doctor rested back and breathed heavily. In sending this man to sleep, he had peered into his head. He was a rebel in a war against a corrupt Empire, and he had been part of an important mission. But what was he doing here? And how had he never heard of this? A parallel world, perhaps?

At this point, the Doctor was at a crossroads. He could look for Bill and get off this planet. Or, he could bring this guy get back to where he belonged, and figure out the truth of this place.

What should he do?

Thankfully, that was answered by Cassian's waking up. "Huh…where am I?" He asked. He quickly eyed the Doctor and scooched back a little, obviously distrusting. "Who-"

"I'll take care of that, buddy," the Doctor replied as he poked Cassian in the forehead. The rebel took some time to process everything that had happened before poured into his mind. The Time Lord had added some personal details to keep him compliant. He didn't want another forced confrontation, especially since they were both lost.

"You're…an alien?" Cassian asked.

"Yes. I'm also your best chance at figuring out where we and our friends are, so I'd be a little helpful if I were you," The Doctor said. "Now come on!" He bolted forward, and the Rebel had no other logical choice but to follow.

As they ran through the dense mist, Cassian blurted "Where are you going?"

"To the TARDIS! We can figure this all out there!"

But as the two approached the crash site, a massive shock crawled onto the Doctor's aged face. The TARDIS was gone; the crater and wrecked grass still intact. How it could've disappeared shocked him completely.

Cassian asked "Doctor? What do we do? If we can't find your ship, are we stuck here?"

For a moment, the Doctor looked at the ground. Then he looked at the rebel sporting a rebellious look. "Heck no, Cassian. We're going to find your friend and mine too."

"But how?"

"With this," the Doctor said by grabbing Jyn's necklace. He whipped out the sonic to scan the crystal. Following the usual energy scan, a green beep was visible. He chuckled in glee. "We've got a trace on your friend. As I used to say, alons-z!"

The Doctor started into a giant run forwards. Cassian, determined to find Jyn and get back to their mission, decided to follow him.


	5. Magical

**I'm back, y'all! Thanks for the supportive reviews. Here is the latest chapter, and I've got more on the way!**

Chapter Four

Magical

…

"Harry, are you there? It's Ginny. Answer, please!" Ginny Weasley said to her rather obsolete iPhone. "Dammit!"

At this particular moment in time, anybody could feel sympathy for the lost witch. Ginny hadn't planned on mysteriously teleporting to some alien planet, complete with trippy trees and constant mist. She'd been engaged to Harry for some time now, and she'd been so ready for their date. But of course, fate had to mess it up.

It had been two years since the battle of Hogwarts. In the aftermath, Harry had gone to work for the Ministry as an Auror, quickly rising in applause and skill. Meanwhile, Ginny had joined the Quidditch team the Holyhead Harpies. She was proving to be one of their best players, and some wondered if this was due to a mixture of her occasional anger and second-by-second determination. In the midst of all this, they managed to find the time to be together as a couple, and if anything their shared experiences helped their status grow.

Yet Ginny had teleported here. Just as she had arrived at the Leaky Cauldron to be picked up, she felt funny and saw everything disappear. When she woke up, she had found herself in the mysterious world. To put it short, she was beyond pissed that she had been yanked away from a good time.

The only benefit she could see was that she didn't know how much time passed here. She'd been here, from her viewpoint, about two days, but it could be longer. From what Hermione had mentioned about Muggle science, scientists' theorized time worked differently on other planets.

However, Ginny hadn't yet gotten food, and her stomach was irritable to the point of wanting to hex it. Concluding that her iPhone wouldn't find a signal to her boyfriend out here, she got up and started walking around the dense misty trees she had been around for days now.

As soon as she had entered an open space, Ginny spied something familiar on the ground. Then she gaped; on a silver plate lay a chicken bone, a salad, and some water. Starving inside, she ran towards it and proceeded to devour it. "Mmmm," she moaned in satisfaction, gaining energy from the food. "I don't know who made this for me, but it's got the same quality as Mum's. Nice!"

Ginny's moment of rest was cut short as she heard someone come towards her. She shot towards her wand and aimed it at the source. A young man was coming out a thicket. He came charging from the blue bush, covered in a red jacket and black pants. He had dark brown hair, which didn't seem to impact his character at all.

"Hey," he said in response to Ginny's hard look and steady wand. "I'm Jason. You know where we are?"

…

Jason looked at the girl. She seemed to be about his age, a person wearing clothes and accessories of the present day. What seemed off about her was the wooden stick she was holding. What did she expect to do with it, cast a spell? Like that would ever happen.

He'd been out for a week, searching this mysterious place for any way to get back home. His Power Coin still allowed him to use his Ranger powers, but he couldn't talk to Zordon. He wondered if any other Rangers had been transported. Now he'd found a girl just wondering about, and things were only getting weirder.

"I don't," Ginny said, lowering her wand. "Two days I've been here, and I can't find any way home. Food?" she asked, offering some morsels on a silver plate. Jason hadn't been that hungry, but still accepted a piece of cheese.

"Where are you from?" he asked.

"England. You?"

"Angel Grove," he responded.

"Huh. Never heard of it," she remarked.

The two sat in an awkward silence for some time. Finally, Jason decided to break it.

"You want to look some?" he asked.

Ginny gave him a bland face. "What makes you think we can find them?"

"I'm a bit more than average," Jason said smiling.

Ginny smirked a bit at this. "Okay. I'll follow you, Jason. By the way, my name's Ginny."

"Cool," Jason replied. As they started out of the clearing, he felt something inside of him. It wasn't love, but it wasn't awkwardness either. It was something…rational.

…

Ginny and Jason had gotten to the bottom of the hill, and now found they were on the tip of a giant mountain range. They could see various valleys and peaks from their point, spread out from the distance. Blue trees and energy were apparent in these places, and the sky cleared into a fading yellow.

What was off, though, was the appearance of floating bits of rock and structures. Whole masses of land were levitating in the air as if they had never been on the ground. To say it was weird was an understatement.

Jason looked at Ginny, and she at him. "You think gravity is light here or something?" he asked her.

"Probably," she said. "Could be an illusion, too. Only one way to find out." And with that, she stepped off the peak.

"Ginny!" Jason screamed, but his worry was soon unnecessary as he found that she was floating. "So it works."

She chuckled. "Looks like. Want to join me?" she said. No other option in sight, Jason leaped and found the feeling of floating to be…odd. He never knew that it was almost without regret, but it just seemed so loose and fun. He wished this was a Ranger power.

"Let's go that way," he pointed towards a large blue spiral in the distance. "Or, I guess we could float."

Both smiled and began concentrating. As they thought, their bodies smoothly and slowly flew toward the blue energy in the distance. Jason could see much of the ground from up here. It was like being on a plane, but not being on a plane. It was cool.

He glanced at Ginny, wondering what her life was like. He didn't "love" her, he just was curious about where she came from. She hadn't exactly been that forthcoming about her life. Maybe something-

"Jason!" Ginny screamed.

Jason swerved from his position in the air and saw something massive soaring towards him. It took the appearance of a robotic falcon, with wires and cobbs exposed from all parts of its body. Its wings were made of some blue energy. From the look on its face, he could tell it was angry. This, however, didn't help him from dodging one of the talons attacking him.

"Dang!" he screamed in pain. The talon of the bird hadn't broken his skin - he thanked his Ranger powers for that - but it hurt like hell. Then as he turned to see it again, he barely was able to put up a defensive hold when the falcon soared and pushed him back into a cloud. Both of them vanished from view.

"Jason!" Ginny still floated in the air, now alone and worried.

…

Well, that hit the fan fast, Ginny thought pessimistically.

She still floated tons of yards above the ground, watching the cloud the duo had disappeared into. She felt so guilty; if she had used her magic to save him, then he wouldn't have died in vain. She didn't care if he was a Muggle. It wasn't fair.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the screech of the Falcon, which had returned from the cloud and was now rearing its talons towards her. Beyond angry, Ginny aimed her wand at the mechanical predator and shouted "Confringo!" A thick burst of explosive fire traveled from her wand towards the bird, severely burning its chest. It screeched and dived upward, but she could tell that it was going to return.

Soon enough, the bird had returned and once again dived towards her. Ginny decided to cast a defense spell this time; "Protego!" created an invisible barrier, bouncing the bird to the side. As it went to swing around once more, Ginny felt drained. She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up, floating in the air.

"Watch out!" someone yelled. Ginny turned towards the cloud that Jason had fallen into, and now saw a person encased in red armor. He had a helmet that rendered his face impossible to see. To her astonishment, he floated quickly towards the Falcon and soaked it in the face before it could get to her. It screeched again, but he refused to let go and delivered another punch to its abdomen.

As the fight continued, the robotic falcon flapped its wings and somehow radiated a form of energy, knocking the red being back. Ginny saw this and decided to help. She readied her wand and floated a few feet forward. "Impedimenta!" she shouted hard. Immediately, the enemy beast was rendered immovable, meaning that her spell to restrain had worked. Taking the chance, the crimson armored person lunged forward and generated a blade, then stabbed the bird with it. Blue oil leaked from its neck as it screamed one last time and then fell all the way down to the ground.

Both floating people panted. Ginny looked at the mysterious red person, who only said: "Good work" with his back turned.

"You're welcome...Jason," Ginny replied casually.

The Red Ranger turned towards her, awestruck. "Who's Jason?" he asked.

"Oh, cut the lies," she said. "I know it's you. Who else could fall through that cloud and come back up in time to help me? Besides, it's not like I plan on telling people about your...whatever it is."

He floated closer, and his helmet opened up to see Jason's face. It was serious.

"Ginny, I not allowed to tell anybody about my identity."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because…."

…

An hour later, the two had reached the plateau they saw from before. Both rested on the ground, having just told each other about themselves. It was a load.

Jason was shocked. "So magic exists?"

Ginny looked cross. "Yes, it does. But we wizards and witches keep it secret so we can live our lives in a normal way. We follow laws, and my boyfriend is what we have for cops - Aurors."

"Nice," Jason replied.

"And your Ranger powers come from aliens? What can you do?"

"Well," Jason said, "I'm super-strong, hard to hurt, and I can summon up my armor and red ranger blade whenever I want to. We keep the earth safe from big alien threats."

"Funny," Ginny replied. "I've haven't ever heard of a giant monster attacking 'Angel Grove' in the news."

"But that's off," Jason said in response. "The only way that could happen is if you're from-"

"-a parallel earth," Ginny finished his sentence. They looked at each other in shock. "You don't think...whatever brought us here brought us from different realities?"

Before Jason could respond, he heard a loud thump behind him. Ginny looked and looked in awe at what was behind him. Intrigued, he turned to see an incredibly odd sight; a tall and blue phone box with the words "POLICE PUBLIC CALL BOX" on the top.

"What is that?" Jason remarked out of shock.

"Something definitely not from this world," Ginny replied.

 **What is the TARDIS doing there? I promise, we'll get back to it. For now, I'll give a tease of our next two people to meet: a woman of technology, and a woman of books.**


	6. An Issue of Technology

Chapter 5

An Issue of Technology

...

If there was one thing Felicity Smoak knew about computers, it was that they and nature did not mix at all.

She stood in the midst of a misty jungle full of blue trees, without power for her seriously advanced iPhone and thirsty beyond relief. She seriously preferred Star City to this place, but she didn't seem to have a vote. All she knew was that something had happened as she had been helping Oliver take down a new street criminal.

"...Can't believe there's no wifi out here," she mumbled in a complaining mood. "Gotta be a signal around here."

At this point, no food and very little water were starting to get to her. She'd tried to stay active and looked around but was greeted by more mist. Felicity kind of wished Barry was here; he'd probably speed in and help her out.

It was at that moment that she heard a noise ahead. Curious, Felicity packed her phone inside her pocket, inching closer. She hunched behind the bush in front of her and saw something impossible. A massive robot, resembling a gorilla, galloped around. She'd thought companies like Kord and Stagg Industries were developing robots of similar design, but this was something else.

"Get down!" A small whisper yelled at her from behind. Before she could see who said it, Felicity felt a hand on her shoulder and was pulled backward onto the ground. "Hey!" she started to say, only for the same hand to cover her mouth. Irritated, she looked and saw that her mysterious companion was a young brown-haired woman. She wore a simple blue skirt with white cotton in the back, and her neck boasted a small hanging necklace.

"What are you doing?" Felicity whispered in annoyance at the young woman. "I'm trying to see that thing!"

The woman responded back with a glare. "That 'thing' is not good! It will hurt us if it sees us!"

"And how do you know?"

"Because," Belle said, "I narrowly escaped from it myself."

Felicity looked confused and checked on the robot gorilla. It was moving towards the brush in the distance. Now it was safe to talk. "Who are you?" She asked. "You kind of look like someone out of... 16th-century France?"

Belle laughed slightly. "That's because I am," she said. Felicity was immediately taken aback.

"You're not joking? I mean, you're not joking in the literal sense about- OMG, I talk too much."

"It's fine," Belle replied. "I'm Belle, by the way." She extended her hand.

Felicity grasped it. "Felicity Smoak, resident nerd and IT girl," she replied with a warm attitude.

"IT Girl? Nerd?" Belle replied confusedly. "What do those terms mean?"

Felicity raised an eyebrow. She was really confounded by this girl. She had a french sounding accent but seriously got no modern terms. The computer nerd was beginning to think she really was from a France from far ago. "Uh, nothing too important. Say, you know why we're here?"

"No clue," Belle said. "I was reading with….a friend," she paused slightly, "and then I woke up here. This mist just confounds me."

Felicity couldn't help but agree. The mist with the trees in the background obscured everything in the line of her vision. It was a miracle her glasses weren't blurred with fog. That's when it hit her; it must be an alien planet. Maybe she'd been hit by some sort of energy and shot to another world, parallel and in the Multiverse. From what Barry and Kara told her, that made sense. However, she felt telling Belle wouldn't do any good. From her appearance and outward knowledge, Belle seemed to be from the past, and telling her anything of the 21st-century could jeopardize the timeline; Barry, with all of his mistakes involving time travel, might agree. Felicity decided that working it out in her head would probably be for the best.

"Y'know, why don't we look?" Felicity asked. "Better than waiting around."

"Already tried that," Belle said. "Everywhere around here is just full of mist. And the trees all look the same."

Belle's comment sparked something in Felicity. Forgetting about being cautious towards Belle's past knowledge, she whipped out her iPhone and looked for an app. She'd created a hacking feature that let her dig her way into tech, figuring out what made it unique and barge past all the firewalls. Felicity assumed that she could use it to understand the robot gorilla. Finding the app - called "Hackware" - she opened it and found the basic principle. A second later, her phone pinged the creature as a blue triangle. She smiled.

Belle, looking over her shoulder, asked, "What is that?"

"My phone," Felicity casually said, forgetting her earlier ideas still. "I'm trying to figure out what makes our robot friend here tick."

Belle turned her head towards the clearing. The ape-like-robot was still facing away from them, but she could sense that it was waiting for someone. What, she couldn't picture.

"Got it," Felicity said. "This ape's full of computer systems I've never seen before. And really intricate, too - like a factory of data running all at once. But the power source, I can't find it. This is some sort of tech clearly not available to us now." She finished her sentence and looked at Belle, who was puzzled.

"Is your phone like a book? Full of information?" she asked.

Nervous about the question, the blonde responded. "Kind of...but with more stuff. I can, like, talk to people and play things. It's neat." She proceeded to scratch her neck in nervousness.

The phone beeped. She looked at the notification and was shocked. "Holy cow. Whoa."

"What?" Belle asked out of curiosity.

"This thing," Felicity said, "it's crazy. It's not just made of tech- something alive is in there." She hurried a quick glance at the still stationary robot ape. "And whatever that is, I don't think it's human." She gave her companion a cold look. "We need to go now."

Suddenly, the robot swerved it's head and emitted a low mumble before it's substitute for an eye blinked red. Both women saw it, and without further hesitation bolted away. As the duo ran, they could hear the sounds getting louder. Felicity stole a glance, horrified as the massive robot clobbered through trees, obviously wanting to get to them.

Belle saw there was a misty area up ahead, and hoped they could lose whatever was chasing them there. But as they ran towards it, she felt as if a dagger had struck her heart. A similar creature to the robotic simian stood there, it's cylindrical face snorting greenish smoke. At the sight, Felicity stopped and Belle nearly fell into the ground from the running.

They stood there, fear paralyzing them while the two mechanical beasts circled around. It was unclear what they planned on doing, and Smoak wasn't planning on finding out through getting killed. Seeing no other option, she decided to do the one thing she could. She held up her hands, and said, "we surrender! we surrender! Take us to your leader!"

Belle looked at her confused, but the two robots stopped and shared a momentary glance, finally eying the women. After a pause, they made a noise and starting walking towards another direction. No other way to escape pictured, Felicity followed them with Belle in tow. She didn't like what was happening, but the two of them had to get home, and there didn't seem to be any other options.

She hoped in her heart that a certain green archer would help.

 **Cool, huh? That "archer" definitely comes into play next time, and with a certain rebel.**

 **Also, you guys should know this, but I'm working on another crossover fanfic right now. It isn't connected to this one, but the ending of "Potluck" does have some implications for it. Just to tease it!  
**


	7. Rogue Aim

Chapter Six

Rogue Aim

...

Star City wasn't the best place to live, but at least it had flavor. That's what the Green Arrow thought as he ran across the rooftop. The temperature was cold and he wasn't feeling fully up to the mission, but what mattered was getting it done, so he still pressed forward.

He perched on the rooftop's edge like a hawk, bow in hand. Through his mask, Oliver could make out at least twelve men gathering in the corner of the shipping yard. Most of them were grunts, but he made out a couple of important figures. The silver-haired Rupert Thorne sported his trademark white hair and dumpy physique, wearing an expensive black suit that bulged slightly. To his right was Sylvester Stagg, the clean-cut nephew of Simon Stagg. Sylvester had taken over the company after his uncle had been killed and was planning on closing it, but not before selling some scientific research to Thorne – illegally.

Oliver clicked his comm earpiece with an index finger. "Felicity, what do you have?"

"Nothing too difficult, if that's what you're asking," the whiny pitch of Felicity's voice rang. "Okay, there's not a lot of space beyond what's already taken up by the shipping containers. I can create a distraction for the gangsters, but you need to move quickly. They have automatic rifles, and your Kevlar won't withstand too much of their ammo."

"Any idea on what Stagg's offering to Thorne?" Oliver asked, his eyes still trained on the criminal group.

"The conversation between them on their burners indicates research on kinetic energy rifles," Felicity said. "It's the specs to build them. If criminals got their hands on these-"

"-They could do a lot more damage," Oliver finished. "Heading in now. Signal when ready." He darted forward, ready with bow.

He slowly meandered little ways until he was farther along the roof and closer to the group. Procuring a grappling line, he hooked it to the roof and his belt then fell off. The line lowered him bit by bit until he got to the ground. Unhooking it, the Green Arrow crouched behind a container to see the group. Flanked by gangsters, Falcone and Stagg were looking at a piece of paper. _Must be the plans_ , Oliver thought.

"Felicity, do it now."

No answer.

"Felicity?" Oliver asked, wondering why she couldn't answer him. "What's happening?"

Before he could ask anything else, Oliver saw a bright glow and came into shock. His hands were turning white, the eerie color soon reaching his entire body. He tried to do something, but his figure completely disappeared from the shipping yard.

…

Three days later, Oliver was in a completely different world. He'd fought in cold environments and thrived in a dense wilderness, but this was something else. The mist and blue trees made him feel out of place. So far, he'd found no one, and things were looking bleak for him.

So instead of wallowing in fear and dictate, he'd started hunting the landscape. He needed food and water to survive, with them not being similar to what he was used to. His hunting skills had somehow paid off; he'd stumbled upon a tree of blue bananas and a small spring full of water. Initially suspicious, he soon found the odd fruit to be exactly like the ones at home. That night, Oliver made it his temporary new home.

As he spent the rest of the evening staring at a fire under the banana tree, his gear and bow propped around, he decided on his next plan of action. He was going to scout things the next morning, and find out where he was. If anything, that was what mattered.

…

The next day was a fast-paced frenzy. Oliver darted along the tree branches, using his momentum to propel himself from branch to branch. He kept winding up in patches of mist, but it temporarily obscured his vision. As such, he was able to make his way through the environment efficiently and ultimately wound up in a massive open space clear of trees.

Nothing seemed familiar, but then he heard something. It sounded like a kind of bullet. Fighting was going on, and it only made sense to check it out.

Oliver turned right and darted into the thicket. The sounds of battle got louder, each step drawing closer. As he stopped to prepare his bow, he heard a tiny movement. Then a thud hit his head.

"Drop it," a voice said from behind. It sounded female. He predicted the object was a gun and quickly lowered his bow, then raised his hands.

"Turn around," the woman said, "Slowly." He complied and spun to see her; a light-skinned, dark-haired woman with a dirty jacket and a silver gun. The weapon looked inhuman in origin.

"Who are you?" Oliver asked in a dark voice, attempting to mask his identity vocally.

"I could ask the same, Robin Hood," she said sarcastically. "Though I'm pretty sure if you're with the Empire, you'd have heard of Jyn Erso by now." She cocked the gun a little as she said this.

Oliver grumbled slightly, hands still raised. "I don't work for any 'Empire'."

Jyn didn't believe him, to some degree. "Really? If that's so, why are we here?"

Before he could respond, he picked up on a sound and slowly turned his head. Jyn unsurprisingly did the same. Something large and robotic made its way towards them, and as it got closer Oliver had a better picture of it. It resembled a robotic replica of an ostrich; wires ran down its neck and base, blue energy surged like fire from its tail, and the head was a ball with a sharp triangle on the end.

Much to his prediction, the "ostrich" proceeded to fire a massive blast of blue flame at them. Both ducked and went separate directions, attempting to dodge the massive flame. Immediately, Jyn reared her head and saw the patch of grass they had been on was now a smoldering blaze. She gripped her blaster harder and spun to shoot a blast at the bird. However, it dodged with ease.

Meanwhile, Oliver had used her scuffle with the bird to sneak around it. He'd been right near its back side, hidden amongst the bushes and his bow and arrow ready. That's when the bird did a 360 with its head and projected an ember towards him. He moved to the right and shot a boxing glove arrow at the monstrosity. The robot was knocked backwards by the force, but immediately corrected its position in a second.

"Damn," he said in irritation.

He began running around it, snatching an explosive arrow from his quiver and shooting it at the bird. This time, the creation saw the projectile coming and simply snatched it with its beak.

"Hey! Archer!" Oliver turned his head to see the woman from before a distance away. "Get over here!"

Seeing no other option, Oliver ran towards her. When he got to where she was, he asked, "What is it?"

A bit unsullied, she stated "I noticed something over in the bird. Look." She pointed towards the robotic bird in the distance, which had since taken to preparing a battle stance. Her finger motioned at a small hole in its left thigh. "I think if one of us can draw its attention, the other can shoot its hole and blow it up. A theory, at least."

Oliver gave her a grim look through his mask. "I don't trust you."

"Well, we can either get chewed up or work together, Robin Hood," Jyn said thinly. "Your choice. I'll draw its attention." She ran towards the robot before he could say anything more.

Jyn drew the robot bird's attention by firing a barrage of shots in its direction. It responded by swinging its fiery tail, which she barely missed. As this commotion happened, Oliver acquired another explosive arrow and readied it. He held it in position for several seconds, waiting for a perfect shot. As he had predicted, the exposed thigh was open. A small movement of his fingers and the arrow shot off. Before the robot knew what hit it, a small explosion of fire spiraled into a blazing inferno, engulfing it into nothingness.

The vigilante hero suddenly became worried about the woman who'd helped him and looked around. She was on the ground, recovering from the short blast of fire she'd nearly escaped. Creeping with caution, Oliver sneaked towards her. "You okay?" he asked gruffly.

She turned to greet him with a smile. "Sure, sunshine," she said. "Now who are you?"

"It's a long story," he said while offering her a hand up. She accepted. "All I can say is that this place definitely isn't where I come from."

"Nor me," Jyn said. "Undiscovered world?"

Oliver didn't seem to comprehend this. "Don't look daft," she said. "Haven't you gone to explore the Outer Rim before?"

The Green Arrow shook his head. They were in for a long talk.

 **They definitely will be. Trust me, this talk will be continued.**

 **So the next few chapters will be the last couple of meetups. Then, the meat of the story begins and more fo this place will be revealed. Anticipation!**


	8. Beast Meets Power

Chapter 7

Beast Meets Power

…

The ocean at night shined a pale green color reminiscent of moss. The mist was far off, but the beach still was alien and cold, and if anything felt like a slumbering problem waiting to happen. Along the shoreline, the deep greens faded into black, and only a yellow moon shined on the surface.

Kimberly paced the beach trying to figure out what to do. Her Ranger friends weren't nearby, and communicating through her armor was getting nothing except static. She had to try something else, but no other options seemed to present themselves. She turned to the slowly rising incline away from the beach and decided the only thing to do would be to look in the misty area she'd been in.

"This mist is dense," she said to herself as she navigated the slowly growing amount of trees. Being night, it was harder for her to see through the mist circulating in the area. She stepped over several thorns and roots that looked oddly different than earth-based ones. _I bet Billy would love this_ , she mused in her head.

Kimberly neared a small area where a pond of green water resided. She got down on her knees and began scooping it out with her hands. Suddenly, she saw something in the pond; she snatched out a medium-sized book, the words etched on the cover saying "King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table." She was taken aback by the oddness of such an opal and old book, as well as the present location of it. What could something like it be doing in a misty alien world?

Book in hand, the Pink Ranger marched past the spring until she saw an interesting thing. The tree at the end of her current path boasted a blue spiral on its stem. It was glowing and perfectly placed in the middle of the base. Upon closer inspection, she could see it lighting up in a pattern, akin somewhat to a heartbeat. _Things are really weird here_ , she thought.

 _Thud._

She tensed as a heavy noise sounded behind her. If she were still a queen bee, Kimberly might've freaked and run off. But not this time. This time, she was a Power Ranger, and she wasn't going to take any scares from anyone. Slowly, she turned around and faced what had landed on the grass.

In front of her was a hulking, furry…beast. He was huge, tall enough to measure past the height of a door. He had massive fur, sharp claws and teeth, and cold eyes that gave her a fright. His hair was long enough to run down his shoulders and back. Finally, he wore a dark blue dress coat, which seemed to be an odd kind of clothing for him.

For some moments, they stared at one another, neither talking but both starting intently. Then he broke the silence. "Who are you?" he asked with a hard voice.

Kimberly needed a second to answer. "Kimberly," she said. She stood her ground, not trusting him at all.

He returned her lack of trust with a sneer. "Well, Kimberly, have you seen a young woman around here? Brown hair?"

In truth, she hadn't. But not knowing what his personality was like, the Pink Ranger had a feeling that he wasn't planning on associating with her for good reason. "No," she replied in a serious tone.

He took a step forward, but she stood her ground. "I'm not going to ask again," he said with a rising voice. "Did yo-"

At this point, he caught a glance of the book in Kimberly's arm. It took a second for him to fully realize what it was, and then something engulfed him. Slowly but powerfully, the feeling of anger overtook at the speed of a cheetah. She noticed his body shake before he let it out.

"Where is she?!" he bellowed, visibly enraged. "Where is Belle?" He got closer as he said this, and his claws outstretched in terror. Kimberly did not take kindly to this.

"I'm telling you, I don't know about any 'Belle!'" she said back. "But I bet you wouldn't be doing anything nice if you found her, would you?"

The Beast's face twisted into a furry scrounge of anger at this comment. And not only that, but his eyes began to glow a bright blue color. His body tensed before he launched at Kimberly with his claws outstretched. Luckily, her super-strength allowed her to grab him and throw him to the side. Pieces of grass flew as the Beast collided with the ground.

 _Either this guy is really pissed, or someone else has the joystick,_ she thought. She had no ideas about who he really was, but she did know that he was dangerous. Her mind concentrating, Kimberly's skin began to change into pink and silver armor. In the course of several seconds, she had morphed into her Power Ranger armor.

She stared at the Beast, who had slowly gotten up and stared at her in an enraged state. "Okay, calm down big guy," she said through her helmet. Unsurprisingly, he responded by running and pushing her into the nearest tree. "Ow!" she said while trying to get up.

She looked to see him running at her full throttle. The Pink Ranger got herself up before dodging to the left. As he attempted to see her, she jabbed a strong kick at his torso, sending him flying backward. He got back on his feet to deliver a deafening roar with intense ferocity. "Got to think of something," she said.

The Pink Ranger noticed a metal rod on the ground in front of her. While oddly there, it was something she could use. She picked it up and catapulted herself into a massive air jump. As she soared above the ground, she aimed herself towards the Beast. Before he could do anything, she landed hard on him. Both crashed on the ground and more grass flew. Kimberly used the rod to attack his arm, a burst of anger stemming from him for this. A few more punches and a kick, and he was immobile. The blue flames extinguished from his eyes, but the still weary warrior lifted the rod to his chest in case he was faking it.

A few second later he reopened his eyes and delivered a snarl. Kimberly still held the rod over him as a weapon. "Try that again, and I will beat you up more," she said as her helmet opened to show her face.

"Get off of me," the Beast said. "I need to find Belle!"

"Yeah? Well, you need to calm down," she said in a hard unyielding tone.

…

Far away in the mist, there were two wandering about. A boy and a young woman pierced through the fog, searching high and low. They came from two separate worlds, but their friends – a paranormal girl and an oddball man – were out there and needed help. So they had decided to band together to make things work.

Mike and Bill turned a corner to finally see the sun pierce through the fog. Sunlight reflected upon the trees and twigs and grass, and only, at last, he saw something. In the distance was a stretched and long tree. Sleeping next to it were two girls, one of which he knew.

"Eleven!" Mike screamed.

 **Not the biggest fight ever, but hey, it worked. I can promise that the blue spiral and flames are going to dealt with at some point. The scene at the end of this is only of the beginning of the reunions coming full circle. Nex time, we've got the fastest man alive and the boy who lived- in a flash of magic!**

 **This is the last chapter I'm going to write before I go on a trip for the next week. Promise to get back to work on this when I return.**

 **Thank you to the people who keep up with this! It means a lot to me!**

 **Lastly, I can confirm the other crossover fic I've started is called "Darkknight Universe," and it stars a certain dark knight and some crystal gems...**


	9. Quick Magic

Chapter 8

Quick Magic

…

The night lights of Central City were a multicolored spectrum of neon. To Barry Allen, better known as the Flash, they were simply bees whizzing past him. He was running across the different intersections of the city at lightspeed, dodging cars and pedestrians faster than they could ever react. He did this in an attempt to get to S.T.A.R. Labs, where his friends had something they wanted him to see.

As he propelled through the streets, Barry wondered what it was. It probably a surprise of some kind, but it wasn't his birthday, and they hadn't fought any Metahuman recently to garner celebration. Then again, H.R. liked trying to have fun as much as possible, so that could explain it. He hoped at least Iris would be there.

Suddenly, he saw something ahead of him. A familiar transdimensional breach opened, but unlike the previous ones he'd seen, this one was white. At the speed he was going, Barry had no choice but to run into it. Once inside, though, he instantly felt it be different. It was like the Speed Force was gone, and replaced by something dark and cold.

The breach opened and spat Barry into a thick jungle. He expertly managed to slow down, though not without kicking up a storm of dirt and grass. Taking a moment to redirect himself, he looked around and realized he most obviously wasn't in Central City. _Maybe Gorilla City on Earth-2?_ He thought to himself. Then he noticed the fact that the trees were blue, and the spreading mist everywhere. He most definitely wasn't on Earth-2.

"Woo boy."

…

"Bloody Hell. If I don't get out of here soon, I'm going to start sounding like Ron."

Harry Potter was mad. It was normal for him to get pissed every once in awhile, but this time was a winner. He was just about to go on a fascinating experience with Ginny, a date at the Leaky Cauldron when he'd suddenly appeared here of all place. He was sure it wasn't apparition, as that was a thoroughly discomforting experience. The downside of being here was that he was in a completely alien environment, and with nothing except his wits and magic to rely upon.

He'd spent at least three hours searching for her and anyone else around here. This had been fruitless. Apparition had only brought discomfort, to the end result of traveling stretches of space with no benefit. His usage of _accio_ hadn't worked. Even worse, the muggle iPhone he had didn't seem to have wireless service here.

Harry sat on a rock, and as he pondered what to do – in addition to not sounding like an aimless Ron – he picked up something with his senses. The area was vast, but thanks to his magical powers, Harry could sense things far away and close by. In the vast area around his figure, Potter felt something penetrate the space…scratch that, burst into it.

The young wizard readied his wand and turned towards what he was sensing. Seconds passed. The feeling got stronger. Then out of nowhere, Harry was knocked off of his feet in a split second. He landed backward on the ground, a trickle of blood emerging from his lip and pain in his arm. Slightly disoriented, he got up and attempted to see what had attacked him so quickly.

He didn't see anything in his line of sight, but his senses still detected danger nearby. Harry thought back to what he knew. Dementors could suck the living souls out of things, but even they weren't this quick and merciful. As to his several readings of _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ for his school years, no known magical creature could move this fast. It had to be something else.

Wham!

Harry cursed in his head as he was knocked down again. Blood now appeared from his nose. Anger mounted and he stumbled to find his wand. Once he located it, he noticed a series of torn grass and dust patches nearby. It was plain this being was fast enough to disturb the environment. This gave him an idea that could work.

He stood up and used what he could garner from his magical powers to make out that the being was somewhere behind him. His wand ready, he cried out.

"I know you're there. Whoever you are, show yourself!"

Faint footsteps pelted his eardrums. The bait taken, Harry spun around and aimed his wand at the lone forest path into the mist. A flash of lightning headed towards him, but he carefully fired a charm at it. "Arresto Momentum!" Immediately the lightning began to wane as if losing breath and not able to sustain itself. Taking his chance, Harry conjured up another spell. "Petrificus Totalus!" The lightning disappeared completely and left a body in the middle of the dirt.

Where the lightning had been laid a man covered in a red spandex suit. He had a mask with slits for his eyes and mouth, while lightning insignias were carved into his chest and the places where his ears would be. It looked to Harry like the suit somehow resisted friction and allowed him to run. This might be magic, but his senses hinted at him being a muggle.

Harry suddenly noticed that his eyes weren't normal. Small blue flames sprung from them, but just like the rest of the body, soon became extinguished. He had a hunch that the flames had negatively influenced him.

Either way, it was time he had a talk with him.

…

Barry woke up, still in his suit. He found that his body wasn't responding to his commands, and the only way he could look was forwards. This seemed to be true, as he soon heard footsteps.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," a voice said. "I put a body-binding spell on you to keep it that way."

"Who are you?" Barry asked.

The figure stepped into his range of vision. He was a lank young adult with a basic build, a light blue shirt, and a gray hoodie on top of it. He had black hair that matched with rim-nosed glasses. Based on his accent, he sounded English.

"A person who finds you dangerous," Harry replied. "I think randomly attacking people for fun isn't nice at all."

"What are you talking about? I don't hurt people," the Flash responded.

"Yeah? Well, you just attacked me. If I hadn't cast a spell, I'd be pulp by now."

Barry took a moment to divulge this. "Okay, look, I'm sorry for attacking you. But that's not who I am. I'm a hero from another world, and I use my speed to help people. Whatever made me attack you must've been something else."

Harry took a looked at the masked speedster. His magical senses were telling him that he spoke the truth, and he seemed sincere. Considering the flames had gone out, he must've regained control. The mature wizard whispered a counterspell, and the speedster's body returned to movement.

Barry had barely gotten up when Harry moved forward. "First things first, who are you?"

"I'm the Flash," he replied. "I'm a hero from a parallel dimension, and I can run at supersonic speeds. I was zipping through Central City - my hometown - when I ran through a portal and ended up here. Everything after that is a blank."

"All I can say is that you weren't yourself."

Barry's gaze returned to Harry. "What's your story?"

"It's a long one."

"I'm good at keeping secrets," Barry said partly-honest.

Knowing he could trust Barry, Harry sighed. "My name is Harry Potter. I'm a British wizard who works for the magical community in Great Britain. I use my magic to uphold the law, and now I'm here."

He noticed that Barry didn't seem as shocked as he had expected. "You don't look surprised."

"Where I come from, magic exists. But I've never heard of secret communities. That seems cool!"

Harry liked Barry's positivity. "Welcome to the club. Any idea on where we are?"

Barry removed his mask, revealing his brown hair. He knelt down and examined a clump of dirt in his fingers. "Wherever we are, there's oxygen and trees. The mist seems to be natural and is everywhere. It's almost like someone is using it to...confuse us." He turned to Harry. "Couldn't you cast some sort of spell to deduce our location?"

"Already tried that, I'm afraid. And I assume you searched and found nothing?"

"Yep." Both looked defeated, unsure of what to do.

As if on schedule, they heard sounds coming from the nearby thicket. Harry turned to Barry and made some hand signals before crouching down. Barry understood, slipping his mask on and followed suit. Nearing the edge, the duo saw a pair of bulky robots maneuvering between the trees and the dense mist. It was hard to tell what they were, but then they noticed people next to them. Two women of different types- a slender blonde woman with glasses, and another with brown hair and a pretty dress.

"Hermione!?"

"Felicity?!"

 **Yep, many things are coming full circle. Next chapter is the last of the reunions, and then we FINALLY get into everyone meeting each other!**


	10. Odd Couple

Chapter 9

Odd Couple

…

Iris watched intently from the top of the cliff. Things were very different here than on Earth. Without any people around, it felt emptier. She wondered what life was really like in this world; she hadn't spent enough time to figure it out yet.

She'd been lucky enough to construct a bed from a stretched out thicket. A night on it hadn't been bad, minus a stick poking into her ribs when sleeping. Her investigative reporter gut had told her to search, but she found the cliff she was on to be covered in intense mist going down. That didn't seem like much of a viable option from a logical standpoint.

As she stretched out and looked upon the cloud of fog peppering from the mountain into the distance, she wondered how her family and friends were reacting to her disappearance. It might've been scary to them, but a small part of Iris was relaxed concerning it. She felt like everything with Savitar and her impending death was farther away than ever. Yet she couldn't help shake the feeling something worse was here.

She was broken away from her concentration by a weird sound. Iris turned and looked at the massive mountain spire she'd come to know. On the side of it, it seemed as if the background moved. Suddenly, a robotic shape materialized and started moving towards her. It was some sort of mechanized cat, eyes made of yellow liquid and a body composed of pipes and wires. Some sort of "stinger" was located where its tail might've been.

Iris backed away upon seeing it. The cat moved forwards in a singular stride. Then it stopped and opened its mouth.

"Iris West, you are requested."

She stared in shock. "What the heck? Who are you?"

"Only a servant of my master," it said. "You have been brought here to serve a beneficial purpose to his plans."

"Who is your boss?" she asked.

"I am not allowed to say his name," said the cat. "All I can say is that he would like you to join him."

"And what if I say no?" Iris backed up a little more as she said this, feeling a large stick against her heel.

The mechanical cat's eyes darkened into orange. "Then you will perish."

He leaped at her with sharp claws, but Iris managed to reach her stick first and smacked it into him. He slammed some feet away, wires exposed from his torso, but was relatively unharmed. She didn't need a second look to confirm she was in danger, so she bolted towards the other side of the mountain. As she ran up the cliff, she could hear his increasingly faster footsteps. Unfortunately for her, her foot locked under a root and she fell. She saw the cat leap at her again, bracing for the fierce points to pierce her skin.

Then the impossible happened. She didn't feel anything; the cat hadn't struck her. She opened her eyes and noticed that the robotic feline was some feet in front of her, locked in combat with a burly man. He wore a blue shirt, had thick black hair combined with a beard, and was duking it out with the robot using his…claws?! From what she could see, they were coated in thick metal, and they seemed to be cutting right through the enemy's skin.

He didn't talk, only grunted and attacked in a wild fashion. He paid no attention to the countless amounts of grease that flew from the cat's guts as it was sliced open like a surgery. Eventually, the beast managed to gain some distance from the attacks and whipped it's stinger at him, unleashing some sort of shock. The man bellowed in pain, the sort of bellow that you'd only hear from someone who'd experienced years of pain. He crumpled to the ground.

Iris watched in horror. She couldn't stand to let the man perish. She had to do something. Then she saw her stick and lunged for it. As the feline attempted another attack on the man, she carefully swung her weapon at its head. A piece of machinery was knocked clean away and flew off the mountain. The cat stared at her, dazed for a second before it fell. Static emerged from the already exposed wires in its head.

She turned to check on the man, only to find him already up. He extended his silver claws again and ran towards the beast. "Aaaarrgggghh!"

"Wait!" she said.

He turned, and she swore she saw murder in his eyes.

"I want to talk to it," she said. "If I can get some info, I can figure out wherever we are."

He didn't do anything for a second. Then he said gruffly, "Fine, kid."

She took that as a comment and stepped down towards the cat. Even damaged, its ferocious snarl was as apparent as ever. The orange in its eyes darted at her.

"Where am I?" Iris demanded.

The robotic animal laughed an electronic chuckle that was cold and static. "You are forsaken, Iris West. You and he are doomed here. Doomed to rot on Aris-"

The robot was cut off as all power in its body faltered. The lights evaporated, the circuits stopped working. Then out of nowhere, a majestic blue flame transcended from the heap of metal. The monster was gone.

Iris took a moment to take it all in. Aris, what did it mean? And what was the deal with the blue flame? What did it hint towards?

"Ahem."

She turned around to see the stranger, the man who had saved her life. He looked tired, which seemed understandable at this point.

"You hungry?"

For once that day, Iris realized she hadn't eaten in a while.

"Yes," she said. "Yes, I am."

…

Where Iris' makeshift bed had once been now lay a roaring fire. She stocked it carefully with wood from a nearby tree, the blue giving the Flames a unique contrast. She heard a sound and saw that her new friend had returned with what appeared to be some meat. Upon closer inspection she saw that it was carefully prepared, as if the food was from a five-star restraint and they were customers.

As he laid the meat on the ground and sat near the fire, Iris decided it was time to ask some questions. "Who are you?"

"Nobody important," he replied gruffly.

"Well you saved my life, so I think you're pretty important." She took a moment to take the fire in before saying more. "You know, you're not the first 'weird' person I've met. I know a bunch of people with superpowers back home."

"They mutants?" he asked.

"Uh, no. They're metahumans. Got their powers from the Particle Accelerator accident."

He gave her a mixed expression. "Accelerator what?"

It was clear to her he didn't know what she was talking about. "Okay, look. My name's Iris West. I'm a reporter for Central City Picture News. Three years ago, S.T.A.R. Labs – this scientific research group – created a Particle Accelerator to advance their scientific research. The night they turned it on, something went wrong and it released a dark matter wave across the whole city. What people didn't realize was that it gave them superpowers, and now a variety of citizens in the city use them for either good or bad purposes."

"Huh," he said. "Never heard of that before."

"Where're you from, anyways? At least if I can't get your name?"

"Texas," he said while grabbing the meat, poking a stick through it, and letting the fire cook it.

"Whoa. Where do the claws come from? And how do you not bleed too much from injuries?"

"You ask a lot of questions. Don't."

"Just tell me," she said. She looked directly at him. "Please."

He looked like he was about to shoot her down again, but after all this questioning, he finally relented. "Look, kid…I'm a mutant."

"What's a mutant?" she asked inquisitively.

"It's somebody born with a special gene in their DNA. When they grow up, they become different because of it. Where I'm from, being mutant gives you superpowers; telepathy, super strength, healing. But it can also make you unique from humans. Most people don't like or are afraid of mutants because of that."

Iris looked stunned.

"I used to be part of a team of mutants that kept the peace. X-Men, they called us. We tried to prove we could protect both humans and mutants, that we could coexist…"

"What went wrong?"

"An accident happened. Half of our number died. Soon after, anti-mutant laws went into effect and a virus began wiping us off the map. Those left – like me – went into hiding. That's what I was doing until some nutty Spanish woman came knocking on my doorstep, asking for my help."

He applied pressure to the stick, and Iris thought she nearly heard it snap.

"She told me I had a daughter. Some government science tank took my DNA and made her out of it, to turn her into a weapon. She wanted me to get her to some far-off territory where she'd be safe. But on the way, a friend of mine and some innocents died because of something…just like me." He paused slightly, pain grasping his throat. "And just after that, I got here. I can smell her, but I don't where she is. It's like somebody is masking my senses."

"What's her name? Your daughter?"

He looked at her. "Laura. That's her name."

He had finished cooking the meat and lowered it into his hands. Without a sweat, he ripped it into two pieces and shared one with Iris. She initially was worried about the taste, but once she sunk her teeth in, she regretted the judgment. It tasted so good, filling her up with energy after so long without it. A minute later, she finished and wiped her hands on a nearby piece of grass.

She turned to the man, staring longingly into the fire.

"What are your powers?" she asked.

"I have enhanced senses and a healing factor, though these days it's pure rubbish. I've also got these claws; they were coated with an indestructible metal once."

Iris wanted to ask how that was even possible but bit back the desire. She edged closer and put her hand on his. He looked at her.

"Look," she said. "I get you don't really know me, and vice versa, but we're both stranded in this brave new world, looking for two people who make our lives complete. I'm sorry about what's happened to you, but if life's taught me anything, it's that you have to have hope, and believe things can get better. I know they will here."

Iris might not have known it, but her words have captivated him.

"Your friend," he said. "What's his name?"

"Barry," she said. "I don't know if he's here too, but he's my boyfriend and he's pretty fast."

He chuckled slightly. "Sounds like a nice guy."

"He is," she said. She got up on her feet. "You want to go look for Laura?"

He saw the determination in her and obliged, getting up as well. Then Iris saw something she hadn't expected on his face.

Hope.

"Alright, kid. Let's do it. And by the way, the name's Logan."

He picked up the remaining meat, then scattered the ashes of the fire by waving his leg. He started going down the back spiral path of the mountain, Iris right behind him. Both didn't know what lay ahead, but at least it would be worth trying in the end.

…

The plan was working well. The being watched as Voyager met Voyager, and events played out in predicted fashion. The girls had bonded, the beast had fought the ranger, the wizard and the speedster found a similarity, and now the Wolverine and the reporter were well on their way to uncovering the secrets of this world. Of Aris.

The mist, the mechanical beasts, and the flames were only the beginning.

What happened next would change everything.

 **Whoo! Nine introductions done! Next chapter, everything starts coming full circle! Trust me, this story on Aris is only getting bigger!**

 **Also, for those interested in continuity, Barry and Iris from "The Flash" are coming from the time frame during episodes 10-15 of Season 3.**


	11. And That Makes Four

**So, after a prologue and nine chapter of one on one introductions of nine character sets, we've entered the few chapters where everyone joins up. Thank you to those who read this. I've got loads more to write, and a lot more plans when this fic ends! Thanks!**

Chapter 10

And That Makes Four

…

"Eleven!"

Eleven's eyes were barely open before she was embraced in a tight, squeezing hug from Mike.

"Can't breathe…" she said.

"Oh, sorry!" Mike let go of his friend, letting her get some air. "I just…was worried about you."

She saw the sorrow in his face. Then she noticed Bill standing plainly nearby. "Who…is she?"

Mike realized she was talking about Bill. "Oh! She's, uh…"

"My name's Bill," Bill said. "I and Mike met up a while back." She extended her hand, and Eleven unsurely took it. "We both wound here without our friends, so we agreed to look for them. Is this yours?" she held out the blonde wig the girl had used for her outfit. Attachment flooded over Eleven's face as she nodded positively. Seeing this, Bill gave it to her.

Mike then took the time to notice the little girl next to his friend, her head tucked against the blue base of the tree. "El, who's that?"

"…Laura," she said while holding tightly onto the wig.

As soon as she had said this, the unconscious form of Laura appeared awake. Her face hardened and one of her hands produced two sharp claws. Mike backed away in shock while Bill simply stared open-mouthed.

"Laura," Eleven said to her, "…They're friends."

The other girl sniffed at the two strangers. She couldn't sense anything bad on them, and if Eleven vouched for them, then she could accept that. Her claws retracted into her hand. "Lo Siento," she replied.

"Okay, anybody find this weird?" Bill asked. The three children looked at her. "Sorry, I just mean how we're all from what appears to be different backgrounds, and we wind up together? How is any of this happening?"

"I tried searching," Eleven said solemnly. "But…nothing for miles. This place…is empty. Except…for the machines." She gestured to a small piece of metal.

"What machines?" Mike asked in a now worried tone.

"We found one," said Laura. "Big and tall. It was like some kind of monster made of technology. We both fought it and it fell. But there are probably others out there."

Everyone took a moment to take this in. Out of nowhere, a sound could be heard from the nearby thicket. Bill turned and showed fear on her face. Mike backed up towards Eleven, who gripped his hand hard. Laura tensed, releasing her deadly twin claws. Then someone came out of the thicket, and it was a surprise.

…

Logan walked cautiously out of the thicket, Iris in tow with a jagged stick. He had to give credit to the woman, she had a fire and tenacity he hadn't seen in anyone else. Well, maybe not since…Jean.

As soon as he crossed into the tangle of trees and exposed grass, he caught sight of a group of unfamiliar people. Two kids dressed in outdated clothes, and a dark-skinned girl who had on a mixed set of black and white. But hidden among the crowd was the one kid he'd been trying to find all along. Laura stood there, staring at him like a distant watcher within his grasp.

"Kid?" he said.

The others noticed he was talking to Laura. She started walking towards him, and then within reach proceeded to pummel him in the stomach. He groaned a little, but her punch hadn't gotten deep.

"Ow. What was that for?"

"Imbecil," she said. So she hadn't changed that much.

"Excuse me," said the dark-skinned girl, "but who are you? Do you know Laura?"

'She's my, uh…"

"They're family," Iris finished for him. She understood, better than most, how familial things like this were complicated. "I'm Iris West. This is Logan. We're, well, kind of lost here. Who are you guys?"

Now with some information, Bill's face lit up. "I'm Bill, coming from London. These guys here are Mike and Eleven. We don't have a clue where we are, so I'm betting we're in the same boat."

"Is the GPS on your iPhone not working or something?" Iris asked.

"Yeah, it isn't," replied Bill. "Weird, isn't it? I bet we're on an alien planet."

"What makes you say that?" Mike said.

"Well, the plants here are weird, and there's mist everywhere. The only people we seem to find come from remarkably different situations. Mike, you said you and El came from a small town in Indiana, and I bet Laura and Logan come from some place I've never heard of. Maybe it's not just different places on Earth, but also…different realities."

"That's nuts," Logan said.

"But it isn't," Iris said. "Theoretically, if you could vibrate to a different frequency that your earth, you could travel to parallel worlds. Earths with minute differences than ours. I agree with Bill, this has to be one. Though in these case, where we are is a LOT different.

"Me too," Mike said. He and Eleven shared a nod that explained their knowledge of the Upside Down.

Logan looked at the two young adults. "Well, geniuses, what should we do, then?"

Iris scanned the surrounding foggy environment before looking back at the assembled group. "From what we've all said, we've searched and found nothing. It's almost cliché. We need to try something different."

And that's when she noticed the symbol on the grass. The black spiral was covered by the green, but closer examination allowed her to see it. She got on one knee and cleared a path so it could be visible.

"What is this?"

Everyone crowded over Iris, trying to get a look at it. Something caught Eleven's eye; she felt a strange connection from the symbol. As she got closer, she touched her finger to it. Something sparked and she fell backward, convulsing rapidly.

"Eleven!" Mike screamed

"What's wrong with her?" said Logan.

As Mike grabbed his friend, her seizure stopped. She got up, blood running down her nose like normal. "Saw…something," she said.

"What did you see, Eleven?" Bill asked.

"Blue…flames. Vast stretches…of bones. This place…is not a game. We've been…brought here for a reason." She fingered the symbol again, this time having no effect. "I…saw where we need to go."

"Where?" said Iris.

The little girl pointed in the distance. Surprisingly, the mist penetrating that direction began to disperse, and a path appeared. "That way. Whoever brought us here…wants us to go there."

"It's a trap!" Bill exclaimed. Everyone looked at her. "What? Nobody gets that it's a Star Wars reference? Okay, fine."

"Maybe," said Iris. "But waiting here won't do a thing. If Eleven's directions get us one step closer to finding home, then we should head there – regardless of the danger." Out of all them, only she seemed to want to use her time wisely – she didn't know how much she had left.

"You all right walking, El?" Mike asked. She nodded towards him. "I'll follow you."

Logan took a moment before sighing. "Guess we won't get back another way, so I might as well go with you people." Laura jabbed him in the rib, earning another gush of pain.

"All right everyone, this way," said Iris. She started walking towards the portion of the distance no longer covered in mist. Mike supported Eleven in walking, Bill flanked them, and Logan held up the rear with Laura in front of him. The gang moved like a family almost, and their behavior only strengthened this mindset.

And while everybody was walking away, no one could notice that the dead blue spiral in the grass had lit up once again.


	12. The Magical TARDIS Tour

Chapter 11

The Magical TARDIS Tour

…

Ginny stood cautiously in front of the blue police box. In all of her years as a witch – and more recently – this was by far the strangest thing she'd seen. Well, maybe besides a teenage warrior and evil robotic animals.

"How does this work?" she asked herself. "There has to be a switch or something…"

Jason looked over her shoulder. "Any luck yet?"

"Not so far. I've tried a dozen reading spells on this "box," and all I come up with are blanks."

"Hmm," replied Jason. "Is this magic?"

"If it is, it's extremely good magic," said Ginny. "But it feels almost outside it. Something that doesn't fit into the mystical food chain."

Jason took a moment to capture the box in his line of sight. Then he walked to the door and grasped the handle. He applied pressure, and the door opened.

"What?!" exclaimed a shocked Ginny.

He smirked. "Maybe it was open the whole time. Talk about a lazy owner."

Ginny stared into the interior. It almost looked like there was more to be seen inside. Stepping forward, she was shocked to see a room much bigger in there than it was outside of the box. It was a circular room, with light displays and railings and staircases peppered around. In the center was a console, levers and screens pertaining to it. The interesting thing was that none of the lights appeared to be on.

Hoping that she was dreaming, Ginny walked back through the door and found that the box was smaller on the outside. "Impossible!" she exclaimed.

"What?" said Jason.

"This box…it's bigger on the inside!"

"No way," Jason said. But as he walked through the doors, the thought melted away when he took it all in as well. "Whoa."

Ginny joined him inside, peering along the walls. "How is this happening? It shouldn't work!" said Jason.

"In my world, some wizards and witches create expanded spaces through gateways inside of other objects. I can't tell if it's magic, but it seems to work the same way."

"Still, it's just so…weird." Jason meandered over to the console. The screens were black and the levers looked immobile. "Everything here looks dead, like it's out of power."

Ginny joined him. "Let's see if I can figure this out." She produced her wand before aiming it at the console. A second later, the screens lit up to display charts of unknown origin. The lights under the bridge and around the walls began to radiate in a traveling pattern, whooshing like a deep chime. To the duo's shock, the doors closed suddenly.

"What's happening?" Jason exclaimed.

"I don't know! I just aimed my wand at it to do a spell, and it came to life!" Ginny exclaimed.

As the lights continued to swirl around, the duo could feel the box becoming less heavy before they were thrown to the railing unexpectedly.

"What was that?!" Ginny cried.

"I don't know, but hang on!" Jason said. The good news was that they were moving. The bad news, it was going to be a bumpy ride.

…

The Doctor and Cassian moved through the massive brush, attempting to discern where they were. The signature from Jyn's necklace had lead them on a straight path for a while now. However, it had become wayward as of late. Cassian was even more annoyed they hadn't found her yet, especially through the trees coupled with mist.

"Any luck, Doctor?" he asked once again.

"I'm not some fortune reader," the Doctor replied. "My sonic has her signature, but from the looks of it, she's far away. We have to keep going."

"And where is that going to get us? Wandering through more mist?"

"Hold it right there."

The two men froze, only turning their heads at the voice. Out of the mist stepped a man in a dark green suit. He had on a hood and a mask that perfectly concealed his identity. Armed in his hand was a high-tech bow and an even more sophisticated arrow. He didn't look friendly.

"Who are you?" the man asked through clenched teeth.

The Doctor spoke. "Well for your information, 'dark and scary', I'm the Doctor. And this is Cassian. He's a pretty touch chap. We're just looking for his friend."

"Cassian!" a femine voice sounded before a rough-looking woman darted through the mist towards him. He looked in shock as she grabbed him into a hug. "I was looking for you all over!"

"Me too…" Cassian said as he winced because of the tight hug. Once she let him go, he relaxed normally. "Who's your hooded friend there?"

Jyn turned to Green Arrow. "He's a vigilante with a bow and arrow from…someplace else. We helped each other out and decided to hang until we could find our friends. Your companion is a… doctor?"

"Well…"

"If I'll have you know, I am an alien," the Doctor said with wit. "And I am a genius."

"Enough," Green Arrow barked. "We need to figure out where we are."

"You don't think we've tried, do you?" said the Doctor. "Wherever we are, something took the time to steal my TARDIS."

"TARDIS?" Jyn asked, obviously confused.

"His spaceship," Cassian said. "Though from what he says, it looks like a phone box."

The Doctor looked hurt at the comment. "Look, it's a time travelling phone box bigger on the inside than the outside. In the wrong hands, it could cause a tear in the time-space continuum. And if whoever brought us here has it-"

"-They could do some serious damage," Jyn finished.

"Exactly," he said.

"Is that it?" Green Arrow said, pointing a finger at the sky. The group turned to see a blue police box spiraling in the sky. It then occurred to the Doctor the TARDIS was heading straight for them. Whoever was flying it had no idea, most likely.

"Everyone, run!" he exclaimed. The group took for cover under some nearby trees, barely getting out of the way when the TARDIS collided with the ground. Dust and grass flew, but nobody has been seriously hurt. Well, maybe the ship had.

The doors opened and two young people came out. A tall blonde boy and a peculiar ginger girl with a stick in her hand appeared. Before they could talk, Jyn and Cassian had their blasters aimed at them. "Who are you, and why did you try to kill us?" the latter asked.

"What?" the boy said. "We didn't try to kill you, the ship went haywire!"

The girl did a small flick with her stick and the rebels' weapons flew out of their hands. In the momentary shock, she talked. "We found this 'box' and went inside. Then it turned on and dropped us here. Think what you want, but we didn't do anything."

The Doctor moved forward, obviously intrigued. "She's my ship. What'd she look like inside?"

"The controls were dead," the boy said. "But somehow it locked us in and turned on."

"Weird stuff's been happening here," Cassian said. "I attacked the Doctor out of nowhere, and now this. It can't be a coincidence."

"But…stuff like this can't be true," said Jyn. "That wouldn't make sense."

"I've seen things that defy logic," Green Arrow stated. "If anything, this is believable."

The Doctor turned to the two young adults. "Well, I can't blame you for it going nuts. But who are you kids?"

"I'm Jason, and this is Ginny," he replied.

"He's an alien warrior, I'm a witch," she said bluntly.

"Hey!"

"Nice couple," Jyn said sarcastically.

…

Far off in the distance, the machine watched. The fires burned bright inside of these six strangers. It hungered to cut them up and feast, but its master denied that. He wanted everyone to come, to unite. Even at the cost of his kin.

So the robotic gecko slunk back under the brush. It would take some time, but his small moment of dangerous enjoyment would come.

 **Fun chapter, huh? The next one unites the last six people unaccounted for, and then EVERYONE is going to come together... like a Potluck!**

 **Thanks to everyone who reads this! This fic is fun to write!**


	13. Heated Reunions

Chapter 12

Heated Reunions

…

The two massive robot gorillas escorted Felicity and Belle through the tangle of trees. They were silent but kept their authority known through a series of mechanical grunts that sounded pretty terrifying. Both women kept their eyes on the road ahead, wondering what might happen to them.

"Psst, Belle!" Felicity whispered out of the corner of her mouth. Her eyes darted to her new French friend.

"What?" Belle replied silently, trained on the road ahead.

"What do you think they're going to do with us?"

"I don't know! It was your idea in the first place, and now-"

The girls' silent conversation was broken by the electronic chatter of the apes, having stopped for some reason. The women turned to see that both robots seemed to be alarmed by something. Before they could deduce what it was, their substitutes for eyes turned red.

"Uh-oh," Felicity said.

The wind brushed into their faces before both women found themselves away from their captors. Hidden in a bush, Felicity shot a look at the gorillas, looking to be bothered by lightning that was now zigzagging around them. A thought came to her head, and she suddenly remembered who it was.

"Barry," she said. She knew he'd be able to stop them.

"What is that?" Belle asked curiously.

"A friend," said Felicity. "Let's see how this plays out."

From their perspective, they could see the lightning whip more around the gorillas, like it was trying to confuse them. One of them smacked the ground in an attempt to stop it, but the lightning got of the way just at the right time.

…

The Flash ran as fast as he could to avoid the strength of the apes, hoping to catch their attention long enough for his friend to do his thing. He dodged a fist in the air, barely catching his breath as they charged towards him. His part done, he screamed, "Now, Harry!"

Harry Potter darted out of the thicket as fast as he could. He aimed his wand at the nearer of the two robots and exclaimed "Bombarde maxima!" A massive explosion rocketed the machine, sending parts flying and lighting it on fire. Even so, it still remained to show its angry face before charging at him. Wand still in hand, Harry cooked up another spell in "Protego!" The young wizard was protected from the monkey's charge, but he was altogether rocked back a little by the force.

He could see the two women in the thicket some distance away, and a feeling of relief washed over him. That disappeared, though, when he realized both monkeys were coming after him, even the one with half of its face and body blasted off. Instincts kicked in as Harry apparated, concentrating hard on the space behind them. A moment later, he opened his eyes and found himself luckily out of their way.

The Flash ran next to him, eyeing the pair of gorillas. "Doesn't seem like you're having any luck," he commented.

"I did a powerful spell on that one, but it barely singed it," Harry said. "We need to do more damage."

"I've got an idea," said the Flash. He ran off farther into the forest before Harry could get to him. As Barry dodged the blue trees, it could be seen he was running in a loop repeatedly. The circle of light and speed sped up, and even the robotic enemies were entranced. Then as if time started to slow, he gradually came to a stop. Kinetic energy coursed through his hand before he propelled a massive blast of lightning at the robots. Unable to escape, both robots were blasted with destructive energy. Destroyed circuits and frayed wires flung themselves all over the grass, dark sparks making them all the more dangerous.

Barry ran to his friend, obviously exhausted. "Are..they..done yet?" he asked with many pants.

Harry gave him a grim smile. "Maybe. Keep your guard up." He glanced back to the two women in the bush some yards back, who were now making their way towards them.

"I know that's the Flash, but who're you?" Felicity Smoak asked.

"Harry Potter, British wizard," he replied.

"Thank you for saving us," said Belle. Harry got a good look at her. Now seeing her up close, he realized that she wasn't Hermione. She might've had similar hair and facial features, but her posture and attitude were completely different. He mentally decided to forget the similarity on the off chance things became awkward.

"You're welcome," Barry replied as he took off his hood. "Man, working out here's really hot."

The moment of celebration was cut short once a massive cry was heard. The four turned towards the burnt area where the shattered mess of metal and wires lay; one of the robotic monkeys was still alive. Despite having most of its shoulder and chest armor burnt off, the gorilla's face had morphed into a cobbled mess of anger and machinery. The red light shone darker than ever as it charged at the group for the first time without restraint.

Barry suited up and spirited Felicity away to safety. Instinctively, Harry got in front of Belle and cast his shield charm again. However, the gorilla's rage made his strength even more formidable, and as a result, both people were knocked backward. Belle fell near the base of a tree while Harry slammed into the ground, clearly knocked out.

"Harry!" she cried, but her worry for him was cut short by the gorilla's slow crawl towards her. A feeling of fear eased over the atmosphere. Would this be the end?

"Belle!" A familiar and fierce voice sounded. She looked to see her furry ally the Beast jump onto the gorilla, anger planted on his face as he ripped at the robot's armor. Distracted, she ran further into the thicket. Once safe, she crouched herself into the area and soon found the Beast to be in direct combat. Suddenly, a second fighter entered the ring; a warrior in pink armor. She leaped right near the gorilla s back and deliver a solid punch that sent him flying in the air. As this happened, the Beast cupped his hands to deliver a massive blow to its chest. The gorilla attempted to move, but the damage it sustained when it collided with the ground was too much, and finally, it fainted.

Belle crawled out into the open space. "Beast!" He turned towards her and a smile crept along his face. She ran towards him to be scooped into a furry hug. "I missed you," she whispered.

"And I to you," he said tenderly.

Around them, the others recovered themselves. Harry had gotten up, a small bruise on his jaw, but otherwise fine. The pink warrior stood resolutely and looked at the battlefield of fallen robots. Then a flash of lightning, and Barry and Felicity stood with everyone. At the sight of the Beast, he stepped back a little in shock.

"Everyone okay?" the Pink Ranger asked.

Harry raised his wand, disoriented somewhat, at her. "Who the hell are you?"

Without any effort at all, the armor from the warrior's body melted away to reveal her human appearance, black hair and casual clothes included. "My name's Kimberly. I'm a super powered teen. Me and my "friend" – the Beast – we wound up in this weird place. After some initial fisticuffs, we decided to stay together and find a way home. That's how we stumbled upon your fight with the gorillas." Harry stole a glance at the Beast, who gave him a stone cold glare.

"Okay," he said.

"Yo!" Everyone turned to Felicity. "Anyone know what THAT is?" she pointed to the sky, and the groups' eyes looked. In the distant horizon was a massive blue spiral of fire, swirling in the air like it was autonomous. It reminded Harry of the Dark Mark he'd seen during the Quidditch World Cup in 1994. "My gut is saying we should go there."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked the Beast, a hint of impatience in his voice. "We should go!"

"Wait!" said Barry. "We should be careful. Whoever brought us here probably wants us to go there. If we do, we need to be cautious about it. We need to stay together."

"And have each other's backs," said Harry in agreement. "We will figure this all out united."

Hope rose like a phoenix in the hearts of this lot. They'd thought they were lost for the foreseeable future, but now they felt different. Fate had given a chance to get back home, and they would take it.

 **The third group done! Next time, all of the characters are going to finally meet...in battle fashion!**

 **Also, be sure to check my new fanfic Astonishing Ant-Aunt, a new fic combining Spider-Man's Aunt-May and Ant-Man. Will be out shortly.**


	14. Potluck

Chapter 13

Potluck

…

"Up ahead!" Mike called to the others.

"Slow down kid," said Logan. "You might know the direction, but we have to keep at a pace."

"Sorry," Mike replied. The group was behind him, going along the path dictated by Eleven. It'd been some time, yet nothing of significance had been found.

The gang of six entered what appeared to be a wider, open space than before. Some grass was absent from the ground, replaced by patches of gray. The mist was lighter here, and they could see the trees spaced in a bowl-like fashion. Things were really strange here.

Eleven looked at the ground. "Here," she said quietly, pointing her finger at the grass.

"El, what's here?" Iris inquired curiously.

Before anyone could respond, a mumble of sounds was heard from the other side of the clearing. As they all looked upon it, another group of six entered the space, equally confused at the cluster of unknown people. A man in a dark blue coat with gray hair, two scrounge-looking rebels, a green archer, and a pair of young people wearing modern clothing were included in their number.

The middle-aged man instantly recognized the group, or more accurately, people inside of it. Bill's eyes opened as she ran towards the Doctor. "Doctor!" she exclaimed before hugging him.

Mike felt puzzled. "Bill, who is that?"

Bill turned back. "He's my friend, the Doctor. We found him!"

"Let me guess," Ginny Weasley said to the group. "You all wound up here from some magic portal and are looking for your friends, no?"

"Something like that," Logan replied. He smelled these people; they were unfamiliar, but a single shard of himself made him feel like he could trust them.

Iris squinted at the new arrivals, feeling like a light bulb lit in her mind. "Green Arrow?" She walked over to the archer, getting close enough for them to whisper. "Who's with you? Did you see Barry?"

"No,' he said in a hushed whisper. "I was talking to Felicity before I got here. Best bet, she and Barry wound up here too. Just don't know where."

"He has to," said a worried Iris.

Mike and Eleven, meanwhile, walked over to the pair of Rebels. "Who're you guys?" he asked innocently.

"We're rebels, kid," Jyn replied with wit. "Just don't tell anyone about us, okay?"

Cassian glared. He didn't approve of Jyn slipping the beans on their mission. Luckily for them, the boy looked equally confused.

"What are you rebelling against?"

"The Empire, what else?" she said.

"Empire?" Eleven commented quietly. Both adults looked her way, taking in her odd haircut and off demeanor. The fact that she didn't know about the Empire made things all the more awkward.

SHOOOM!

Everyone in the group, where or not they had gotten acquainted, heard it in their ears. A shrill, ghastly sound that was reverberated throughout the empty space of the blue forest. All eyes turned to the back of the open space, where a robotic gecko has crawled out of. A body made of steel and blue flame, the cybernetic reptile motioned it's growling orange eyes to everyone.

"Welcome, all. You have made it this far. But now, my master has decreed this matter to come to a head."

"Ahem," the Doctor interrupted, "but who exactly is your master? Doesn't seem like he does anything, except maybe make riddles for us and meet in awkward places."

The gecko still trained a deathly gaze upon them. "Best I and my kin, and you will know." When it had said this, more sounds appeared to resonate. The combined groups stared in shock as a troop of geckos, similar in cold robotic appearance, stood next to it. Like a pack of snakes, the reptiles tensed and then leaped forward.

What happened next was hard to describe. The group acted in different motions, reacting differently to what was happening. Logan popped his bloodied claws and ran towards the reptiles, Jyn and Cassian behind him. Iris, Bill, and the kids ran to a nearby rock that obscured them from the fight. Jason and Ginny stood back to back, alien powers and magic working in unison. Whatever these monsters were, they had met some tough customers.

Iris looked from out behind the rock. She clearly saw Cassian and Jyn train their fire upon two of the geckos. Instead of instantly being blasted to scrap, the lizards still charged forward despite the damage to their exterior. Both fighters ducked out of the way. Jyn prepared another shot only to find her blaster empty. "Dang!" she said.

"Need some help?" a voice said.

She looked to find Green Arrow in front of her. Without any effort at all, he plucked an arrow from his quiver, prepped it in his bow, and fired the shot backhand into one of the damaged enemies. A second passed before a small explosion destroyed what had once been there. Seeing the little light show herself, Jyn chuckled.

"Nice job," she said. "You're not half bad, Robin Hood."

He smiled in response to this.

Some feet away, Logan slashed wildly at one of the lizards on the ground. His claws scratched the surface of its' metallic skin, but no real damage was sustained. He was about to curse when he heard a voice from behind.

"Y'know, violence isn't always the answer," the Doctor said, standing idly by behind him.

The aged mutant barely heard this before dodging a swipe from the gecko. "Kind of fighting for my life here, man. Talking doesn't solve the tough problems."

"You're right," the Doctor said. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, which to anyone who knew him resembled the TARDIS. It began swirling in colors, allowing a synthetic sound to escape. Then the same sound resonated from the gecko itself, and the once agile machine began to slow down. Logan took the chance to impale it with both sets of his sharp claws, ultimately giving it a severe and fatal wound. When he pulled his claws out, they were covered in blue liquid, and the life in the monster was gone.

He turned to the Doctor. "Thanks for…whatever you did."

"You're welcome, chap," the Doctor said. "Let's attend to our friends."

The two men ran towards Ginny and Jason, who happened to be contending with three geckos at once. The Red Ranger leaped towards one of them, delivering enough force in two punches to shatter it completely. Ginny kept his back protected, firing enchantments off like stray bullets. Suddenly, she noticed both reptiles running at her. Instinctively, she shouted "Protego!", but the sheer force of the charge knocked her backward. Both teens collided with each other and fell to the ground.

Ginny looked at the lizards in frustration. _How? These lizards – machines – seem to be strong enough to bypass, or at least deal damage to my magic. But how?_ Her inner questioning had no time to process as they reared for another attack. Footsteps sounding behind her, the girl turned to see Logan and the Doctor running to aid. The Doctor held out his screwdriver, but one of the lizards shot an orange net from its mouth; this cobweb ended up pinning him to the ground, his device several feet away.

"Drat!" he yelled in irritation.

As the other lizard began its run, Ginny pointed her wand at it. She attempted to freeze it in slow motion, but it darted out of the way, knocking Logan with its tail. The metallic head was near her face before she could act further.

"You are finished."

"Guess again," said another voice. Jason smashed an armored fist into the gecko's face, sending it flying into the dirt some feet away. He helped Ginny to her feet. "You okay?"

"Certainly," she said. "That lizard really is tough."

A snicker was heard from it, even with all the damage sustained. Jason, Ginny, Logan, and everyone else saw what appeared to be a fantastical transformation; the lizard began to grow, flames spreading over its body like blueprints. After some time had passed, a fully grown gecko stood before the group, towering and deadly.

"Time for lunch," it bellowed before starting a run at them.

"No." Everyone turned to Eleven. She stood at the rock with the other noncombatants, yet her deathly glare was more than formidable. She held up her hand, causing the machine to become still. Blood ran from her nose, but she persisted. Suddenly, the metal plates and wires began to constrict as if bent and crumpled. The gecko hollered in pain, and then Eleven fell to the ground. Mike ran towards her, bending over in worry.

"El?" he asked in a panic.

"Hah," the now enlarged lizard coughed, damaged as it was. "You cannot beat me, even united. I am my master's wrath. This will be your grave."

Whish! A bolt of lightning ran across the clearing and hit the lizard smack in the jaw. As he recoiled, the lightning came to a stop and revealed the Flash, grinning in short-lasting victory. "Hey, guys!"

"Nice of you to show up," Green Arrow said. "Bring any friends?"

"You'd be surprised," he replied. The scarlet speedster pointed to a group emerging from the right. A big hairy beast in fancy clothes, a female warrior in pink armor, a lank and dark-haired man with glasses, and two young women of different eras comprised their number. Upon seeing the group, Jason's helmet opened up to reveal his face.

"Kimberly! Nice to see you," he shouted. "Any chance you can help us with this oversized lizard?"

The Pink Ranger's visor opened up as well. "Sure thing, but first let's work with our new friends."

As the three groups merged into one massive conglomerate, the massive remaining gecko looked at them all with hatred. Ferocity coursing through it, the machine charged. The Flash ran underneath its knees, Harry and Ginny fired separate explosive spells, and Jyn aimed a shot at some exposed circuits. All at once various spots on its body became targets of pain. However, that didn't stop its damaging tail, which proceeded to knock rocks of varying sizes into the air. One, in particular, headed for Mike and the unconscious Eleven, the former looking up in horror.

Suddenly, a massive shape covered the children. When Mike opened his eyes, he saw the furry form of the Beast covering them. The sheer strength in him has protected them from the rock, and the boy could see the power in him from just looking into his eyes. After some silence, the Beast asked urgently, "Child, are you alright?"

A little taken aback – as well as shocked – Mike replied, "Um, yeah. Thanks a lot."

The Beast turned his furry face to the massive battle going on, then looked again at him. "Get yourself and her to safety, quickly."

"Sure thing," Mike replied. He began lifting Eleven, only to gain more help from Bill, who had seen them and was prepared to help her up.

In the thick of it, both Power Rangers leaped towards the massive lizard. Kimberly divulged a punch to Jason that sent him forward, and he used the opportunity to cut the tail of the massive gecko with his blade. He landed to hear a large scream of pain from the lizard, which had come to realize blue liquid leaking from its' tail. They managed to dodge the swing of its damaged appendix in response to their attack.

Behind them, the Doctor stood admiring the scene. It really was fascinating, all of these different people fighting the creature. But something had to stop it, and he had a feeling it would be his role to play.

"Ahem," a voice said from next to him. The Doctor saw Felicity Smoak over his shoulder, smiling awkwardly. "You the hacker type?"

"If by hack, you mean override controls and mess with evil robots, then yes," the Doctor replied with charisma. "What do ya have in mind?"

Felicity held up her phone, opening an app called Hackware. "I created this hacking app which lets me override basic things. In the case of our robot lizard here, it's alive, but it gets its power from some sort of energy inside of it. And that energy seems to function because of a signal relayed from its head." She pointed towards the lizard, whose head was complete with a silver disk on top. "if we can damage that, somehow, we can stop our giant animal problem once and for all."

"Sounds like a plan," the Doctor said. "You try hacking into it. I'll go the direct approach."

"Hey—". Felicity's voice was cut off as the Doctor ran towards the lizard. Engaged in battle with Harry and the Rebels, it couldn't notice the old man underneath its belly and limbs. He aimed his sonic at the wires underneath, trying to find the source plug leading into the antenna disc on its head. Some seconds later, the screwdriver chimed and he knew it'd found it. He quickly maneuvered out of the way, only for a massive foot to prepare to crush him. Wind bit at his face as the Flash scooted him to safety, right next to the IT girl.

"What're you guys doing?" he asked.

"We're trying to hack into that giant lizard, Flash," Felicity said as calmly as she could.

"And I've got the signal we need to destroy it," said the Doctor. "All we need is someone to jam my sonic into the disc on top of its head. You fast enough to do that?"

A trademark smile appeared on the speedster's lips. "Of course." He grabbed the screwdriver and scanned the tense battle scene. The Beast had been flung into a patch of grass by the lizard's foot, while the Rebels kept it distracted with long-range fire. He quickly realized that its tail would make a suitable ramp, and bolted for it. Time slowed down for him as he ran off onto the damaged appendage. Trying hard to keep his balance, Barry maneuvered onto the surface of the metallic head. He soon found himself over the disc and aimed the sonic at it, feeling a vibration surging through it to the target. Seconds passed, then a wail from the gecko, and he began his descent. Whatever he'd done to the head, it'd seemed to be working.

The Flash ran to the collected group, which was gazing at the gecko robot. At this point, it was visible that multiple explosions, psychokinetic force, and an electronic jolt into its receiver were more than enough to kill it. The lizard wailed in a deafening pain, screaming from the mess of burnt wires and destroyed armor. Its body falling to the ground, it managed to send every bit of energy left into its horrible, hating gaze.

"You…will pay…." It breathed in garbled amounts of speech. "You…"

The last cries of the reptile were interrupted as Laura ran forward, screaming in rage while stabbing it in both eyes. Blue liquid poured out as she stabbed again and again, lost in the fury. Once the spark inside its eyes vanished, she relented, beginning to breathe normally again.

Everyone looked at her in shock. "Kid, enough," said Logan.

Laura turned to see the rest of the group watching her. She realized her hands were full of blue pus and proceeded to try to wipe it off. "Lo Siento," she apologized quietly.

The Flash looked at the massive lizard, then to the group. They had all defeated the massive robotic gecko, but many questions remained. _How did it do that? Who was its master? And where do all these people come from?_ These thoughts circulated through his mind. Fortunately for the fastest man alive, he decided to come up with an icebreaker for the last one.

"Everybody!" Barry yelled, getting the attention of the group. "I don't think we fully know each other, but right now we should probably find some shelter, particularly if we want to survive the night. Anybody want that?"

A murmur of agreement went through the ground like a reverberated sound. Finally, Jyn stepped forward, a smile on her lips. "Sure thing, red. Let's settle down for the night."

Barry smiled. This group wasn't fully acquainted, but sooner or later, they would trust each other. If the battle had taught anything, that was possible.

…

The cauldron swirled with images, pictures of the group winning. Like a potluck of different cultures and food, these characters had put their differences aside and triumphed.

Just like he'd wanted.

The being walked carefully to the massive, expansive balcony. He looked out upon the field and saw the horizons of the dark gray mountains. His domain was nothing more than a discovery they would soon find, but he was fine with that. If anything, it would bring them closer towards his goal.

A bony finger twisted to touch the skull of his face, tracing along the bare teeth and gaping eye holes. For a skeleton, he was more than dead.

He was Oleander, the bringer of multiversal connections. He would finally make change.

Even if it meant their deaths.

 **Hope you all liked that! I took some time off for a break, but I'm back now! Chapter 14 is coming up soon!**


	15. Search Party

Chapter 14

Search Party

…

The bright light of the fire glowed across the faces of the group, spreading around in the darkness. Huddled around the fire, the eighteen travelers did various things to pass the time. Some chatted, some ate, and others just stared into the living flame. Suffice to say, things hadn't gotten off to the good start the Flash had initially anticipated.

After Harry and Ginny had pooled their magic to create a fire, Logan and Green Arrow had come back with some meat they found on the ground. With nobody questioning the origin of it, it had been cooked and now was served to everyone. Some, like the kids, ate at it due to their hunger. Others didn't; Cassian and Iris didn't feel too starving after the whole ordeal.

Barry had taken off his crimson hood and glanced around the group. Mike, Eleven, and Laura were talking about background stories, something kids loved to make cool. Logan was sharpening his claws, Harry watching him in silent wonder. Felicity and Belle were chatting over the topic of her phone. And in the corner, Jason allowed Ginny to take a look at his power coin.

But it was Iris who intrigued him the most. She was planted in a two-way conversation with Bill and the Beast, the latter facing partly away towards the trees. Out of everyone, she seemed the most determined, the most resolute to help everyone in getting home. He wondered, personally, if this was because of her impending future; by helping others achieve something, she could feel satisfied when Savitar came.

 _He won't,_ Barry thought. _I won't let it happen._

"Barry." Oliver appeared at his shoulder, carrying his usual grim look. "We need a plan."

"Heck yeah," he replied casually. "We need to work with these other people and find a way home."

"And what is that, exactly?" Oliver replied. "I know everyone here, even with special skills or tech, has no idea where we are. How are we going to make sure we don't run into the same dead ends?"

The Flash went deep into thought. What Oliver had said was true; from what he'd heard, the angles everybody had tried seemed to not tell their location. Even the Doctor and his police box he called the "TARDIS" were of no help. If that was true, then how would it work?

And then an idea came to his head. "I think I might know," Barry said.

"Fine, spill."

"We're going to need to get to know everyone, first," he stated. "Then, we'll need the carcass of the gecko we fought."

"Why?"

"Because an exceptional hacker girl and a genius alien might be able to decipher its boss' location from the gecko's remains. It's worth a shot."

...

Per Barry's advice, the group has gotten together and began exchanging stories. Despite the stubbornness of some – namely Logan and Beast – it was eventually public knowledge regarding the backstories everyone had. Mike and Eleven were the last ones to finish their tale, recalling the harrowing events in their hometown, and the feeling that something darker was underneath the surface.

Belle was shocked after hearing their story. "How horrible. I hope you find your friend," she said to the children, a glint of hope on her face.

"Thanks," Eleven said before looking at the fire.

"What kind of magic can you kids do?" asked Logan, who had jabbed a finger at Harry and Ginny over in their corner.

"All sorts of things – offensive, defensive, potions, teleportation," said Harry. "The magic isn't contained in our wands, we just use them to concentrate it better." As an example, he pointed the wand at the fire and mumbled an enchantment. The smoke of the fire began transforming before puffs turned into almost-realistic takes on horses and dogs. They danced around in a circle, spinning until the wind turned them back into particles.

"Muy Bien," Laura said in amazement. She was clearly enthralled by the magic.

"That's cool!" Bill said in excitement. "I and the doctor see aliens and monsters every day, but you guys' magic is so neat!"

Ginny smiled. "Even without magic, I bet your life is equally exciting in space."

"Of course it is!" said the Doctor. "We get chased by Daleks, Cybermen, and Weeping Angels! It's better than exciting – it's pure scary!" His face of enthusiasm was not shared by everyone in the circle, much to his disdain.

Seeing as no one else was up to bat, Barry stood up in his crimson costume to talk. "So now that everyone knows everyone, essentially, I was thinking we do something about getting home."

"How?" asked the Beast.

"I'm getting to that," replied the Flash. "I was thinking, we've tried scanning tech, magic, running around. And none of those worked. But what if there's something else, something right in front of us all along, that could give us the key?"

"What's that?" asked Harry.

The hero pointed a red finger towards the mess of the gecko's remains some feet away. "We use the gecko's remains to triangulate where its' master is, then we find him, and get him to send us home." His eyes locked onto the beaming Felicity, then the Doctor. "How would Felicity and the Doctor like the honor?

A smile on her face, Felicity said, "How could I say no?"

"Sounds right up my alley, though I am an expert," the Doctor commented.

"Guess we'll have to put that to the test." Felicity checked her phone before starting a short trek to the massive carcass. Following behind her, the Doctor gripped his sonic screwdriver, preparing to use it extensively.

She bent down and began scouring the remains for something of value. She nearly pulled back when exhaust grease leaked onto her fingers, but she pushed on undaunted. She couldn't give up – people were counting on her.

The Doctor stood scanning the carcass with the sonic. After about a minute, it beeped intently. He pointed to where the neck lay. "You might want to check there."

"Why?" asked Felicity.

"Because my sonic just detected a type of receiver in there," he replied. "Not bad to try it."

Felicity abandoned what she was doing and reached from the neck. The fight had punctured several holes in it, leaving gaping openings all around. Sticking her fingers in, Felicity soon hit against something hard. The nimble fingers wrapped around and then pulled it out, releasing a small amount of bleached grease in the process. It was a square receiver, looking like the equivalent of something a junior technician might make. Then again, it had powered this killing machine, so props for that.

"Thanks," Felicity stated. She took out her phone and opened Hackware. "I wonder if I can get in here to find the signal." She opened the linkage feature, but nothing seemed to connect. She was borderline frustrated when the Doctor aimed the sonic at the phone. Immediately, a green bar appeared on the screen, proving that she'd linked with the damaged receiver.

"Now you see why I carry a screwdriver?"

Both chuckled, still glued to the phone. Felicity's mobile device clicked and chugged, and eventually, a successful beep was heard.

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked in shock.

"We have to tell the group," she said urgently.

...

"What do you have?" Iris asked the two thinkers, who stood in front of the fire. They looked about to tell something important.

"Me and the Doctor," she made sure to give him a credible jerk, "hacked into the geckos' receiver and found a signal that was used to power it."

"Where's the signal coming from?" asked Mike. Some heads turned towards him, surprised he'd know of something like that.

"Three miles from here," replied the Doctor in a cold attitude.

Shock appeared on everybody's faces. The fact that their captor must be nearby, and this whole time, was something none had ever anticipated.

"Well, why don't we go and find the jerk?" Kimberly piped up.

"Seems like a good idea," Harry responded.

Oliver, wearing his mask and hood, grimaced towards the others. "Agreed."

Everybody turned to Barry now. As he saw the looks on their faces, his heart quickened. By instinct, everybody had chosen him as the leader. It wasn't a bad decision, he just wasn't fully feeling up to it. _Then again_ , he thought, _when did fate ever given me a chance with this kind of stuff?_

"Uh, okay, everyone. Here's what we'll do. We take the rest of the night to sleep, and then in the morning band together as a search party and find this place. That fine?"

A series of yesses were in unison. This plan would go into effect.

People motioned to go to sleep. As Barry and Felicity noticed, everybody decided to sleep next to their friend on the ground. It made sense, after all, who would they rather be close to?

And so they all fell into sleep.

...

Sunlight hit the eyes of everyone, one by one. As various members of the group woke up, they found themselves greeted by a sunny forest. For the first time here, it was light blue and the fog had cleared away once again. All that remained were the glowing blue trees, same as always.

"Ow…" Barry moaned. "I feel like I sat on my hand."

A slight chuckle escaped Jason, who was watching the man in red spandex. "Sorry, just seemed funny."

Logan peered towards the brighter-than-ever sky. "We should get a move on."

"Right," Harry replied as he started to gently nudge Ginny to reality. She slightly resisted before being awoken.

Several minutes later, the full group was ready to depart. Some checked around the sleeping grounds to make sure they didn't leave any items. Wands, screwdrivers, and phones were secured, and soon the eighteen people began their journey.

As the cluster moved farther along the path, the environment began to change. The mist was no longer seen, aside from occasional puffs of smoke in the distance. The grass receded into the dirt, replaced by dry desert land. The trees starting shrinking until they were either short or nonexistent at all. A mile or so from where they had started, the gang found they definitely were in a completely new land.

"Anyone notice how the environment is changing, the farther we travel?" Bill asked openly.

"I agree." Bill turned to see Belle, who has responded. "This doesn't seem natural – unless our captor did something to it. I read about that kind of scenario in a book once."

Mike seemed piqued by this question. "Do you get a lot of things from books, Belle?"

"Certainly," she replied. "They're very fun, educational, and give a lot of freedom when I want to run away."

Before the conversation could escalate further, the Doctor – at the front of the group – halted. "Stop!"

"Why?" asked Jyn, blaster in hand. Unsurprisingly, Cassian was ready next to her. "Are we in danger?"

"For the moment, no. But I'd be careful to consider what THAT is."

The group clustered around him to see what he saw. It was a complete shock. In front of them, the environment completely degraded into black and white. The ground lost its color, the trees shriveled into nothing, and millions of skulls littered the acres like sand particles. Above all that, the distance was covered by a tall castle made of white marble. It had a sinister look about it, and everything they saw seemed to support it the notion.

"Well," the Flash said as he rolled up his mask, "anybody want to dive into the belly of the beast?"

 **They're getting closer! The gang's finally acting like a family, and next time some big chess pieces will move into place. I'll try to get the next chapter done soon before I start my college classes in a couple of weeks. Thanks to you guys who comment and watch this regularly!**


	16. Castle of Decay

Chapter 15

Castle of Decay

…

The group stared at the massive mountain castle, sucked in gazing at its' grotesque and creepy appearance. Despite being so far away and accompanied only by the hordes of skeleton heads, it was still a sight that created much fear.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" asked the Red Ranger. "Let's check it out."

"Couldn't agree more, chap," said the Doctor. "Though I dare say we should be careful. This place could be the end of us all if we don't pay attention." He pointed to the nearest pile of skulls for reference.

"How about we go that way?" Everyone turned to Ginny, motioning to an open path between the massive piles. "It's clear and should have enough space for all of us."

"That works," replied Green Arrow.

The eighteen strangers passed between the piles, largely trying to not look at them. Mike and Eleven couldn't help doing it and were astonished by the massive mess they were. Skulls were piled messily, looking in various directions. For some, bits and pieces were either scattered or missing, and the end result was something out of a horror movie – expect turned up to twelve.

"What do you think we should do?" Logan asked the unsmoked Flash.

"Excuse me?"

"I mean when we get to the top. When we find the bozo who did this, what should we do with him?"

"I…think he deserves to answer for what he's done," the scarlet speedster replied. "He should understand that what he did – even if it's what brought us together – violated our permission."

"Huh." Logan kept looking towards the castle. Barry was uncomfortable about the comment but decided to keep focusing on moving on.

Surprisingly, moving through the disgusting hordes of skulls wasn't as long and tedious as they all had predicted. At least half an hour later, all eighteen people stood at the foot of the mountain. On top was the white marble castle, towering and deadly in its creepiness.

"I'll check it out," the Flash said. As he braced to run up, he felt a hand on his shoulder. Cassian, as serious as ever, stood behind him. "I'll go with you, you need someone at your back."

Smiling, the hero grabbed the rebel before running up in his trademark lightning. Eyes followed the yellow blur as it reached the top of the mountain in a matter of seconds. Faintly it could be seen that they were at the top.

…

The two looked in awe of the massive palace. Despite its' sinister outward appearance, the white castle was still large and had a massive entry hall open to the environment. As the Flash and Cassian approached further, they saw that floating bundles of fire were strewn all over the place. They provided light to the various corners of the gaping hall but did not move. They were like candles without bases to support their weight.

"There," the Flash pointed. Both saw a door at the end of the hallway. It has lines of silver around it and was massive – larger than a truck in size. "I'll check it out."

"Wait!" Barry turned to his friend. "Remember, this person tried splitting us up before. We only got here because we worked together," said Cassian. "Let's do this together."

"Sure," the speedster replied with a grin. Both began walking towards the door, but as they did, they felt something. It was like a tremor, shockwaves rippling through the air and breathing against their bodies. As such, they fell on the ground. Once things had subsided, they looked around and were shocked to see the rest of the group, bewildered as much as them.

"Cassian? Flash?" said a shocked Belle.

"How are you all here?" replied an equally wondering Cassian.

"We don't know," Bill said. "One second, we were looking at where you guys went in, and the next we wound up here."

At that second, the massive doors opened to reveal a far-sighted room. Eyes drawn, there was no backing out now. "Come on!" Jyn darted forward. After some shrugs and hesitations, people followed her to the door.

The room was black, columns where books might've been across the walls like wrinkles in a face. Blue flames were more numerous here and stretched from the floor to the ceiling. In the center was a floating man in a cloak. He turned to the group, and it was soon revealed, just by looking, that he was a skeleton. His bony fingers, his head with an exposed jaws and eyeless holes – he was truly undead.

"Oh, hello," the cloaked skeleton said with a smile. He hovered to the ground, offering his bony hand in friendliness. "My name is Oleander. I bet you're wanting to talk with me."


	17. Answers

Chapter 16

Answers

…

The group glared at Oleander with a distaste they'd probably had never thought of once in their lives. Then out of nowhere, the Beast lunged at him in a vengeful fury.

"No!" shrieked Belle.

With an absentminded wave of his hand, Oleander threw Beast into a wall. The black concrete shattered, bits and pieces exploding across the nearby floor upon impact. As he slumped into unconsciousness, several other members got ready, preparing wands, powers, and claws alike. To everyone's surprise, the robed skeleton lifted a finger and then made what appeared to be a humorless smirk.

"No, let's not fight," he stated passively. "That would be pointless. I know you all want answers."

Green Arrow had by this point already noted an explosive arrow and aimed it at the entity. Through gritted teeth, he said, "Stop playing games. Who are you?"

"I already told you," Oleander replied. "My name is Oleander."

"Not that, dude," the Flash said. " _What_ are you?"

"Ah," Oleander said. "Well, my friends, that is a story you might want to sit down for." He motioned his fingers, and a stone bend appeared behind the assembled heroes. Uneasily, some sat and others stood, still unwary of their new "host."

"You see, I am an Omniversal. A being of my race is someone who can manipulate reality with the flick of a finger." He looked at the ground longingly. "But even with that, we aren't content. Not at all." He took two steps forward, and everyone could see a look of depression written on his bony face. "I can make anything I want, do anything I want – yet I am unable to create companions."

"Is that why you brought us here?" asked the Doctor. "To keep you company?"

"Yes and no." The figure raised his fingers again; as he did this, a spare flame shot from the hallway and right into his palm. Everyone looked in awe as it sat in his undead grasp calmly, not burning but still glowing blue and bright. "There is a multiverse, infinite, of different worlds and possibilities. On one, wizards live in secret. On another, a parallel dimension impedes upon our own. The list goes on and on. But the one common variable is that they are each a different take of Earth, the planet from which all human life came from." Oleander slightly moved towards the group, then took the effort to wag his index finger at them.

"And do you, any of you, know why every earth is special?"

The assembled people couldn't think of an answer. A couple of seconds passed before the most unexpected person gave the answer. "Power," replied Eleven.

"Correct!" said Oleander. "A surprising fact is that every earth across space and time generates a heat signature; a ghost imprint, if you will. This energy can't be used to power things or be a weapon. But for someone of my means, it can do this…" His hands swirling, the skeleton slowly made them go farther apart. As he did this, the tiny blue flame began to expand. Small spots became gradually darker, and a minute later, a fully functioning goat stood in front of them. Like the other creatures they'd fought, the animal was made of mechanical parts.

"Er – nice," said a surprised Harry.

"SO that's how it happens!" said Felicity, who looked more impressed than shocked. In response to Green Arrow's glare, she said, "What? I can be a nerd and a hacker!"

"You use the energy for that?" Bill looked with interest at the mechanical goat, which in response gave her an electronic noise.

"Precisely. The energy from every earth possible and real makes my machines. But, alas, they are not real," his eyes swept to the group, "not really."

"Let me understand this," Belle said. "You use the – energy – from our planets to make your machines. And yet you're lonely. How, exactly, do we fit into this?"

"How is it not clear?" replied Oleander. "You all come from places of taste, of wonder, of fantasy. That excites me, and I have this place as a prison. I can't leave Aris even with my powers over reality. Skulls and machines are my only companions. But you lot, you can keep me company. You can make me complete."

"Just because we're 'alive' doesn't mean we're going to make your life better," said Ginny. "Besides, we all have our own lives to live. You can't control us like we're your toys." To prove her point, she stamped her foot in irritation.

This whole time, Oleander had managed somewhat a clean grin on his face. But after this comment from the witch, his teeth changed to a haunting frown. A sudden tremor shook the room as if the whole palace was reacting to his state of mind.

"How dare you!" he screamed. "I kept you fed, I kept you challenged! Green Arrow's quiver never ran out of arrows, and the whole group got here because of ME! I guess you can't thank me for what I've done, but go ahead, be ungrateful! All that'll do is make things more difficult for you."

He stretched out his hands to release two massive fires from both of them. Hatred formed in his skeletal eyes, and the blue energy he'd praised made two spectral eyes in the sockets. Taking a step towards the bewildered group, he raised his left arm, the fire in his palm like a serpent about to strike.

"I would've treated you with kindness. I had a whole plan. But you leave me no choice; all I can do now – is take your lives for myself!"

Oleander launched a cyan fireball at the heroes. To the relief of them all, Harry had conjured up a shield charm to block the attack. This gave Jyn and Belle the time to help the dazed Beast to his feet, moving to a spot right behind the others. Harry continued to block the fiery attacks, each blast hotter than the last. Seeing as he couldn't keep it up forever, the Flash sprinted around his friend's shield and directly for the skeleton. However, he'd barely gotten within reach before his body froze. Unable to move, he saw Oleander aiming a malevolent finger at him.

"You thought you were faster than me? At your speed, you're but a sloth to my power." The skeleton directed his hand to shoot the Flash barreling towards the window. In barely five seconds, he had crashed through it, screamed, and disappeared from sight.

"No!" yelled Iris and Green Arrow, the latter preparing a duo of explosive arrows.

"That's what happens to those who get in my way!" bellowed Oleander, who had turned back towards the group. "But…no, I have something much worse in store for you."

He raised his boney arms again, but this time, no fire appeared from his hands. Instead, blue veins rippled throughout his cloak and visible parts. As their eyes watched him, an inhuman roar swept through him and into the air. A larger, much more devastating tremor was felt, and most of the heroes had to keep their balance to not fall.

"What's happening?" said Mike, grabbing onto Eleven for support.

"I don't know!" replied Harry. "Everyone, watch o-"

He never finished the sentence. One second later, everyone was gone. The stones they had stood on were a pile of ashes, and the whole palace now a wrecked memory of its' former self.

 **Well, THAT hit the fan! So I can confirm things are coming to a head. More answers are set to come, as well as a cool showdown! College starts soon, but I'll try to stay constant here and give this a proper finish. Thanks, my supporters!**


	18. Heart of Power

Chapter 17

Heart of Power

…

"Uhhh…"

Logan's eyes slowly creaked open, darkness disappearing into blends of gray. After a couple of seconds, he saw a clear tunnel of light hundreds of feet above him. Bending over only made this sight more surreal; he peered around to find himself in a black cavern, three times the size of a football field.

Scents suddenly filtered into his body. He saw the unconscious bodies of the others - Belle, Harry, and so on. Their forms lay scattered across the area, looking relatively unharmed - and yet altered in some way. Logan quietly bent over to tap the shoulder of Kimberly. "Rise and shine, kid."

Slightly groaning, the teenager sat up. Upon seeing Logan, her face became puzzled. "Logan? What happened?"

"Can't say for sure," he replied. "Oleander pulled that trick on us, sent us to some other place again. But this - it's different." He knelt down to touch the black foundation of the rock they all were on. It was harder than dirt, possibly more than a diamond. And for someone who had slowly degrading Adamantium in his skeleton, that scared him a lot.

A moan from behind alerted him to the now awake Harry, his black hair a tangled flop. "This guy...he's just..."

"Psychotic?" replied Felicity. She looked like she'd just woken up from two days of sleep. "Talk about issues."

"I think it's just bunk." This comment came from Jyn, cramming her blaster into her holster with a hurry. "He treated us like we're his playthings - as if! We've got an Enpire to beat!"

"Lumos," said Harry. His wand illuminated the space they were in, making the shadows retreat in hasty fashion. It was now seen that the cavern was not long, but in fact a massive platform; an even bigger chasm surrounded it.

Intrigued, the Doctor looked down over the edge. He turned to the other members of the group with horror written all over his face. "Uh-oh."

"What?" Mike asked.

"That's a long way down," he replied. "Skeleton guy really did a number on us." Suddenly, the frown turned to a smile. "This is so exciting!"

Jason rolled his eyes and looked to the tiny ring of light so far above them. "I could try jumping," he said.

"What about apparition?" Ginny asked.

"What?" This came from Green Arrow, who joined her in gazing up. She soon realized he probably had no idea of what she was talking about, and decided to inform him.

"Well, apparition is what we wizards call 'teleporting,' or moving to another place. Takes a lot of effort."

"I can imagine," the emerald archer stated.

"But that won't work, Ginny." Harry joined them with his glowing wand. "You have to get a clear picture in your mind of where you want to go, and we don't know what the top of this place looks like. For all we know, we're either somewhere we haven't got a clue about, or we're walking into a trap."

Iris had remained largely silent for this point. Upon hearing Harry's words, she kicked the ground in frustration, only for her foot to collide painfully with it. She swore, and everyone gave her a concerned look.

"So you're saying we're trapped, right?" She addressed Harry in a stressed manner. "This is total - ugh!"

Nobody quite knew what to say. Out of nowhere, Green Arrow walked over and put a hand on her shoulder. "Iris… I know how it must feel, to lose someone you care about. If you need anything…"

"No," she said while looking at the ground. "Barry would've wanted us to keep going. We're going to stop that psycho, once and for all."

Cassian gave her a half-believing look. "Look, no offense, but how are we supposed to do that? We're trapped as it is right now."

"Not entirely," said Jason. His body transformed into the familiar red Power Ranger armor. Bracing for a second, he leapt off the ground. However, everyone's expectations were shattered when halfway, he slammed into some invisible barrier. His body began falling down the chasm, barreling right towards the group.

Eleven ran underneath where he would fall and held her hands in a strained position. The red Ranger began to slow down in mid-air, finally floating down to the black surface without any damage or wreckage. A line of blood ran from her nose, but she brushed it off with her hand absentmindedly.

Bill ran up to check up on her armored comrade. "What happened?"

Jason groaned, his helmet opening up to reveal his pained face. "Dunno...there's some sort of barrier there...ow!" He said this in response to Bill trying to help him up. "Felt like electricity."

"Dang," Felicity commented. She looked at the ground, letting a hand feel the surface. Her index finger trailed the hard touch points before she stopped in shock. "Uh, guys?"

Feeling either frustrated or dejected, the group's members gave her a glance. "What?" asked the Beast, still nursing his wounds from Oleander's best down.

Felicity pointed to the platform - and more importantly, how the surface worked. Instead of being crusty and flat, there were various patterns worked into it. As the lines got more frequent, they formed faces and forms. It was only after a couple of seconds that the idea of what they were clicked.

"I think...those are us," said Felicity. Her tone was serious.

"Are you sure?" asked Green Arrow. He set aside his bow and looked at the ground. Sure enough, a line version of him was drilled into the rocks.

"But what does these say about any of this?" said Belle. "Why would we be in the surface of the place before Oleander brought us here?"

The Doctor circled the drawings in the ground slowly, taking the organization into account. "It's obvious that we weren't picked at random. This diagram shows us as his targets. Even if we never met before, he chose us precisely."

"Correct," said a raspy voice from the shadows. Shocked and fretful, the group whirled around to face what had said that. Harry pulled out his wand, the Beast braced for a fight, and Green Arrow readied his bow.

"Put those...away," replied the aged voice. "I have not come to fight."

"Oh, really?" said Harry, still aiming his wand at the darkness. "What is it you intend to do, then?"

A pale figure stepped out from the shadows. He was extremely emaciated, very little fat visible in his face or body. He wore a black cloak like Oleander's, but his was full of rips and tears; furthermore, a thick chain was wrapped around his waist, and ultimately weighed him down. Staring at the group, he had a grim look set about his face.

"I can help you stop my son before he wipes out everything in existence, that's what."

And then he collapsed.

…

Barry's eyes opened quicker than he'd ever thought they would. He felt alive, so obviously the fall hadn't killed him. That left the whereabouts of his current location to deduce.

He glanced through his mask to see a blue aura surrounding his body. It was bright, but something about it was off. So it was no surprise when Oleander's demented face appeared.

"Hello, Flash. Time to help make me happy. And by happy, I mean destroy your friends."


	19. A Clash of Extremes

Chapter 18

A Clash of Extremes

…

Pain coursed through the Flash's body, one he'd never felt before. It was like everything he'd ever experienced – anger, betrayed, physical hurt – was thrown at him in one instant. Put together, it was a combination that taxed even his accelerated healing.

Barry shrieked in mid-air. When his breath returned, he looked to the grinning skeleton in front of him. "Stop…this," he said as clearly as he could.

Oleander continued to grin. "Oh, we're only beginning, Mr. Allen."

And with the flick of a finger, the pain returned.

…

The figure was hauled to the center of the group. Belle checked him with her eyes, and guessed from his he had no gotten any food or water… in a while. _What is this,_ she thought, _another spell on a person?_

Green Arrow prepped his bow before aiming it at the figure. Felicity stared at him in shock. "What're you doing?"

"He's connected to Oleander," he breathed cautiously. "We need to be careful."

As if responding to those words, the figure opened his eyes, turned to the emerald archer, and waved a hand. His bow rocketed a few feet away before hitting the ground.

"No more fighting," the emaciated man choked. "We need to talk."

"So talk," said Jyn, seriousness in her voice. "Who are you?"

"I am Oleander's father," he croaked. "My name is Gladiolus. You could say we carry the same kind of name – flowers that bring about danger and sadness."

"We don't care about that!" said Mike abruptly. "What is this place? I forgot the name…"

"Aris," said Eleven. Mike turned and faintly smiled. "Yeah, what she said. What is Aris?"

Gladiolus sighed. "I guess it's time somebody knew the truth." He raised a thin hand and swirled his fingers in a circle. As this happened, crackling blue energy appeared and began to form constructs. The bits and pieces collided until all that was left was a floating blue planet. It looked like a blue version of Earth, except for the fact that several spots glowed a recurring cyan color.

"What do you all know of the Multiverse?" Gladiolus looked around at those circling him. "Any of you?"

Iris piped up. "It's an infinite space full of an infinite amount of earths. They all vibrate at different frequencies, but if you could match them, you could travel to any of said worlds."

"Very good, Miss West. You see, when-"

"Hold on," interrupted Kimberly. "How'd you know Iris' name?" She looked offended as she said this.

The emaciated being once again sighed tiredly. "Like my son, I am omnipotent. That affords me the ability to know information about people when I meet them, like now."

"That seems invasive," shot Green Arrow. Gladiolus gave him a cold look.

"Believe me when I say this, mister Queen, I have no intention of capitalizing on it. However, I do seem to recall you asking me about this whole ordeal. Do you want to be smart, or do you want to know everything I can tell you? We've got all of eternity to spend in this cave."

That shut everyone up. Taking a deep breath, he began again.

"As I was saying, the multiverse is like a toy box – an infinite one. Practically anything you think up exists on another world. Scholars on every planet have tried to discuss what having different earths existing means. But none ever thought what planet spawned the multiverse itself." He pointed at Aris once more.

"Aris was once populated by our race, better known as the Omniversals. Gifted with the ability to remake reality and transcend natural laws, we used our powers to build the first Earth." He glanced longingly at the circle of light so far high up. "But eventually we got bored. What was the point if we could do anything on our Earth, and be tethered only to it?"

"Your son said something similar about being stuck here," replied the Beast.

"Well, his version definitely differentiates from mine," Gladiolus stated. "How do you think this planet became so lonely?"

"Wars? Natural resource problems?" said Bill.

"We became those planets," he said. He saw their confused faces and then waved his hand. The floating energy diagram of Aris dissipated into small dots of blue light, slowly growing at a rapid pace. "One day, we figured out we could become planets; with all of our powers, it was enough to form their cores, environments, and unique aspects. Each time a person had an idea, they rocketed off and made these planets – at the expense of their lives."

Shock flooded the groups faces. This catch sounded…complicated. "Oleander mentioned each planet in the multiverse has a 'ghost imprint.' Is that what remains of an omniversal when they…die?" Bill asked this, looking slightly scared.

"Yes," replied Gladiolus. "Once an omniversal becomes a planet, their memories degrade into pure energy, wandering through space. It was a tradition for generations."

The Doctor took a step forward, looking very serious. "What went wrong?"

"When my son was born, most of the population had become parallel worlds, and in doing so created worlds unto them. There was only eighteen of us left, and as a result, the environment started to degrade without the mass connection." Gladiolus sighed, signifying a sad portion to come.

"Oleander wasn't born with our powers for some reason. He grew up listening about those before him; he claimed to have accepted being normal, but I could always tell he was jealous."

"And then one day, I had a prophetic dream. It told the return of eighteen beings who would bring life back here. My son took it the wrong way, unfortunately."

"How so?" asked Logan.

"Somehow his jealous mind got the notion that he should take this dream as a sign of universal alignment, and that it would work out in his interests." Gladiolus looked shaken after saying that.

"Universal alignment?" inquired Harry. "What is that?"

"Our greatest fear," replied Gladiolus. "If two worlds collided, the ripple effect could destabilize all of reality. What he wanted to do was worse – merge every living planet into one world, where they could all coexist. The damage alone…"

He paused for a minute, clearly shuttering at what came next. "I returned to our home the next day to find he had killed his mother."

"What?" asked a shocked Logan.

"He desired her omniversal powers, and in taking her life gained them. But it wasn't enough. So with these powers, he…destroyed the other fifteen Omniversals." Gladiolus stated to the ground, an icy feeling taking over him.

"He…killed the remaining others?" said a horrified Belle, shock clinging to her face like a parasite.

"…yes," the sickly man replied. "He stole all their powers in a move to hasten the prophecy's coming. However, by killing them, he made the environment decay and become a dark reflection of what it once was. It was horrible…"

"If he went and killed your friends, not to mention doomed the environment," Harry inquired, "why not do anything?"

Sudden dark pupils appeared in his eyes as he rounded on Harry. "You don't think I tried? I fought him with all my might, but he was miles ahead in terms of raw anger and thought. He wasn't my son any more."

"Skulls?" questioned Eleven. She took some steps so she face him in the eyes.

"You're asking about the skulls, the masses of them?" Gladiolus asked. When she nodded, he lips folded into a thin, grim look on his face. "Those are the skulls of the millions who never came. When each omniversal perished, the inhabitants of their potential planets ceased to exist; those skulls are reminders of their fate."

Horror stretched around the group. Oleander had killed his own people and mother, all because of jealously. He really was a monster.

"He locked me down here, he just couldn't let me die without feeling pain. Every day, he saps a piece of my power," Gladiolus looked sick as he croaked this. "And with your friend's help, he will finally be able to accomplish universal alignment."

Iris was confused. _What does he mean?_ "Wait, with Barry?" She asked him.

Gladiolus nodded solemnly. "Your friend is a conduit of the Speed Force, an energy integral to the Multiverse. If my son acquired it – probably through a speedster – he could accelerate the merging of the universe."

"We can't let that happen," said a determined Jason. We have to stop him!"

"Agreed," exclaimed the Beast. "But how? He could dispose with us like ants."

Gladiolus coughed before straightening his throat. "There is a way…" he caressed his fingers, feeling the cold wrinkles on each one. "I can protect and aid you with what power I have left…at the cost of my life."

"No!" said Felicity. "You shouldn't have to do that! We'll find another way, I know it!"

"There is (cough) no time," Gladiolus replied. "You are heroes and warriors, people who have the humanity my son lacks. Better for me to help you stop him then live out my days as a tortured prisoner." He attempted a weak laugh, startling some of them. With a good amount of effort, he got up and looked at the crack of light up above.

"I, Gladiolus, give you my power to stop my son." As he said this, the group's members found their bodies slowly levitating off the ground. They were floating higher and higher, the black walls seeming to shrink in view. Suddenly, Laura shrieked in Spanish and pointed at the ground. Everyone turned to see Gladiolus, smiling softly, begin to fade away into bits of blue energy.

"No!" Harry said, but by then it was too late. They were miles above the platform, and what was left of the man became snuffed out like a match.

Finally reaching the surface, the group landed hard on the largely flat ground. Logan gathered himself to see that the landscape had drastically changed. Gone were the blue trees, the mist, and the far off mountains. What occupied the environment now was floating pieces of debris, chunks of lands ripped apart, and massive blue veins soaring through the ground.

"He..he's gone," Belle said, shocked at what had just happened. Eleven out a hand on her shoulder, attempting to give some support.

"Guys," said Iris. Once she had everyone's attention, she took a deep breath. "Gladiolus sacrificed himself to save us, not to mention stop his son from destroying the universe. We have to make what he did not be in vain."

"All of our friends, everything we've known is at risk, if Oleander wins. Whatever powers his dad gave us, we have to use them to win." She glanced slightly at the destructive environment before continuing. "I know it's scary to think about this all, but we need to try. If we lose without doing that, I'll never forgive myself." Her face slowly changed into a proud and determined look. "Who's with me?" Iris held out her hand to emphasize this point.

Green Arrow stepped up first, bow in hand and seriousness showing through his mask. "I'm coming," he breathed after firmly putting his gloved hand upon Iris.'

Felicity came and joined them. "IT girl is definitely not giving up. Count me in," she said with a laugh. Iris smiled at this.

Harry, followed by Ginny, walked up and resting their wands in the circle. "We wizards-"

"And witches," interrupted Ginny.

"-and witches," he said, giving Ginny a small cross look, "definitely have a say in this." Both made room for Belle and the Beast, holding hands as they joined in.

"We want to help," she said with determination.

"Agreed," the Beast grunted.

Iris smiled at the responses. Time seemed to pass quickly in her mind as she thought. The kids pledged, Logan gave a rant about doing it out of conscience, and the Power Rangers said it was the right thing to do. That left the Doctor and Bill, who angered for a bit before slyly saying they would work to aid in stopping Oleander. When the talking was done, they all were in the circle, prepared to fight alongside friends.

"So what now?" asked Mike.

Iris' mouth formed a smile. "Now, we find Oleander and send him to Kingdom Come." She began walking towards the massive blue grin in the distance. Assuming she knew the way, the other heroes followed suit.

The fate of Aris and all reality rested on what came next.

The final battle had begun.

 **Wow! Probably the longest chapter I've written! Only two chapters left! What will happen? Check back next time!**


	20. Humanity

Chapter 19

Humanity

…

Lightning shook across the surface of the transformative landscape. What was once blue trees and mist had degraded, turned into something sinister. The more Aris suffered at Oleander's expense, the more it would never have the chance to return to normalcy .

Logan stopped in front of the group. Facing them was a massive dent in the ground, capturing the size of a crater in its form. Energy surged in the air above it. He turned, saying "He's here."

"Are you sure?" asked Iris.

"He's right," said Harry, moving forward with his wand in hand. "I can sense them ahead of us."

Green Arrow readied his bow. Eleven's face turned serious. Jason and Kimberly became encased in their colored armor, flexing their fingers and arms before tending for battle. After the others had prepared, Iris took a step forward. Fear had left her; all that remained was bravery.

"Let's go."

…

Barry crashed to the ground, unable to prevent himself from colliding face first with it. He could still feel the pain inside his body, collecting like some sort of growing threat.

Looking weekly up, he gazed daggers at Oleander. At Barry's sight, the skeleton simply stretched his bony face into a smile once again. The speedster despised him all the more for this.

"You're a…monster," he breathed, attempting words through the hurt he felt.

"No, I'm not." Oleander bent down to uncomfortably stroke Barry's hair, his bony fingers striding through the brown locks. "I'm going to make everything better, don't you see? By destroying you and your friends, I can bring everyone together!" He motioned to the darkening sky. "Isn't that wonderful?"

"Barely," replied the Flash. "How does torturing…me help?"

"Well, Barry," the skeleton said, "your powers come from the Speed Force. If I can hurt you just enough…" he held out his hand and clenched it into a fist. "Then I can take the speed force energy as mine. And with it, I'll make the universe whole!" His clenched fist exploded into outstretched fingers, leaving only a puff of blue energy tingling throughout.

The scarlet speedster used all his energy to glare at Oleander. "This is wrong, Oleander. Even if I can't stop you, my friends will."

"So where are they?" the villain mocked. "I don't sense them nearby. Must've fled like the cowards they are. Or is it because I stuck them in an inescapable hole? I really can't tell."

"Look again, jerk face."

Oleander turned around just in time to receive a smack to the face. The force of the blow knocked him onto the ground, rolling several feet back with a broken jawbone. Barry saw who had landed the hit: Kimberly, gazing amusedly through her pink Power Ranger armor. Standing behind her were Iris, Logan, and the others.

"Need a hand?" She offered. He smirked in response.

"Sure..thing," he said with effort.

Iris and Harry ran over to him, attempting to tend to his injuries. Logan, joined by Green Arrow and Bill, stood ready in case Oleander attacked them.

"Barry!" Iris cried. "How do you feel?"

"Like…heck," he said. "Everything…hurts. I can't…heal."

"Might be able to help with that," Harry said as he whipped out his wand. Placing a hand on the hero's chest, he aimed his wand at him before starting a nonverbal chant. Energy began to pour back into his body, feeling more lively than ever. Once Harry had taken his hand off, the Flash managed to pull himself up with little to no effort. He looks to Iris, relief written across her face. Before he could speak, she gripped him into a tight hug.

"I thought you were dead!" she said.

"Me too," Barry said. He held her at arms length, maintaining his relieved composure. "I know we've been worrying about dying lately, but maybe, just once, we could focus on living? You know, facing a crazy god kid and all?"

Iris wiped a tear from her face before smiling. "Got it," she said.

The fastest man alive and his fiancé stood up to gaze with the rest of the group. They were all looking at Oleander, currently stretched on the ground. Now that he was viewing him clearly, Barry could see he had lost more than just his composure; Kimberly's blow had knocked a portion of his teeth and actual jaw off. They were strewn across the ground like candy, chunks reduced to specks of mineral.

The living skeleton cast a hateful gaze at his attacker, and it was seen that without his jaw portion, underneath it was actually crackling blue fire. "You idiot!" he screamed. "You…you all think you can beat me? You have no idea how powerful I am, what I am willing to do to make everything better!"

Ginny took a step forward. She gave the same hotheaded glare she was known for to him. "Like I said before, we're not your toys. And as far as we're concerned, you're a monster – what your dad told us was awful."

He gave a sort of grin, disgusting due to his disgusted jaw. "He told you…that's dear old dad. Always trying to prove me wrong." He began getting up. "Have you any idea of what it was like, being an omniversal without powers? It was hell; what I did was necessary!"

"No it wasn't," said the Doctor in a serious voice. "Genocide for any reason is wrong. You're a prime reason why people with this kind of power can't do things right!" His tired eyes pulsed with anger as he proclaimed this.

Green Arrow stood by his side, daggers in his eyes. "We're going to stop you, if that's what it takes." His bow hand became a lot firmer after saying this.

Laura, small as she was, stood in front of Barry. She produced her set of twin claws and formed a protective "X" with her arms. "You will not hurt Barry," she stated fiercely. At the comment, he gazed down in confusion, wondering what she was referring to.

"What're you talking about?" he questioned.

"Long story short, skeleton guy wants your powers to merge the universe into one realm," Jyn stated casually. "His dad said doing that could wreck the multiverse."

Realizing it was the exact thing Oleander had been talking about before, he nodded. "That thing. Now it makes sense."

"Sadly, none of you can prevent that," the villain chuckled. "I'm afraid this is where we part." He held up his right hand and snapped two fingers. Nothing happened, and for several seconds the assembled heroes looked at him in confusion and wonder.

"What the hell?" he said angrily. "I wanted you all to stop existing! Why'd it not work?"

A thought came to Belle's head, and she practically had her mouth open when she realized it. "Oleander's father…he must've protected us when he vanished!" This didn't seem totally unreasonable, and the other group members seemed to agree. It made sense hat he would bestow some power on them before he parted ways with the living world.

"So what?" taunted Oleander. "If I can't erase you, I can still kill you myself!"

Harry grabbed his wand and pointed it at the villain. "Not on my watch. Expelliarmus!" A thin red light rocketed into the skeleton; adding in the blast's force, he was chucked a good amount of space into the distance. As the dust settled, Harry ran forward with his wand. The Flash sprinted past him, running right to the skeleton and delivering s right hook.

"Immobulus!" screamed Ginny as she projected a blue light at Oleander. It hit him in the back, but for the obvious reason he brushed it off easily. With bloodshot eyes, he raised a hand and the land she was on began to rise into the air. Luckily for her, Mike tackled her off with all his strength. They landed on a nearby chunk of dirt, roughed up but alive.

"Thanks," she said. He looked slightly embarrassed.

He nodded in understanding. The boy saw the rest of the team heading towards Oleander. "We should help them," he said with a hint of urgency in his voice.

"You're right," replied Ginny, who by this time had recovered from the life-saving tackle. "Come on!" Both ran towards the fray, regardless of the danger.

Ahead of them, Logan had sheathed his claws and was attacking Oleander fiercely. Unlike the robots' exteriors, he could actually make dents in the skeleton's body. Upon seeing the massive cuts in his robed arm, Oleander panicked. "How is this happening?" He shrieked like a spoiled child who didn't get what he wanted.

For once, Logan smiled. "The way I see it bub," he said, "your old man put us on the same playing field."

"If that's the case," said Oleander angrily, "then you can bug off!" He shot a blast of blue energy from his hand. Logan tried to stay still, but the intense pressure sent him hurtling backwards in the air. Just when he would have collided with the ground, he floated still inches above it. He picked up a scent and saw Eleven beside him, a hand outstretched and blood under her nose. She lowered her hand, allowing him to and softly. "Thanks, kid," he said.

"Welcome," replied Eleven. Both suddenly remembered the battle and then turned to Oleander. He began to march menacingly towards them before an arrow struck and exploded upon him. Green Arrow ran up to Logan's side, loading a boxing glove arrow into his bow.

"Keep him busy," Logan breathed. The emerald archer nodded solemnly, firing a barrage of reloading arrows. While this happened, the aged mutant turned to Eleven. "Sweetie, can you do something for me?"

She looked intent at him, nodding, so he assumed this was a yes.

Oleander held his hand up, attempting to stave off the explosives from Green Arrow. In this short time, he became the victim of one of Cassian's thermal detonators. The blast left him relatively unharmed, but upon seeing his cloak black and partially destroyed, his skeletal face filled with hate.

"I'll kill you all!" he screamed.

"Dude, that's got to be the fourth or fifth time you've said that," said a peppy voice. Too late, the skeleton turned and met a fist of lightning when the Flash whizzed by, knocking him off his feet again.

"No…this can't be happening!" He moaned loudly. With what strength he had left, he attempted to get up. It was on his arms that he saw a horrible sight.

With all her telekinesis, Eleven had held Logan in mid-air and then shot him at Oleander like a rocket. Claws outstretched, he dug them into the villain like he was made of paper. The latter collapsed and blue blood seeped from the wounds. After a minute, Logan removed them, panting and out of breath.

The rest of the the group gathered, looking at Oleander with both dislike and sadness. Out of nowhere, his head perked up, a small bit of life still in him. "No…" he choked.

"Oh do please stop," growled the Beast. He stomped a foot on Oleander's hand, which caused the villain to quit moving. Felicity peered curiously at him.

"Is creepy junior down for the count?" She asked jokingly. "Because I could use a big belly burger right about now."

"Same," replied Barry. "I'm so exhausted from running his much. It was a real workout."

"But what about casa?" Laura asked. Before anyone could properly reply, shock plastered itself onto Cassian.

"Look out everyone!" He said. At the exact same moment, a massive tremor was felt through the ground. This one was much larger than any previous one experienced by mankind, and the result was intense damage to the landscape. Whole pieces of the planet opened up, fragments falling into the abyss.

"Uh, guys?" Jason said. He pointed to Oleander, and when everyone followed his gaze, all they saw was a true monster. His skeleton appearance had become distorted; the jagged bones had combined into a lean skin shape, the roughness gone but the dry color still apparent. Pure red eyes stared at them, and his hands were full of blue fire. Due to the constant burns, the inside of them was a peppering black.

When he saw them in full, he didn't smile or pretend to be nice. He gave them the god equivalent of anger, which in this case was hard brows and ridged eyes. His mouth opened to reveal a murderous voice.

"Pain."

At the sounds of the words, the entire group shrieked and then collapsed. He was doing what he'd gone to the Flash; inflict select moments of pain upon them. Whether they were child, alien, beast, or wizard, they all felt it. It was horrible in a way no one could describe.

The changed Oleander walked around the group, watching as select victims struggled with his power. He smiled devilishly at his work.

"Oh well," he said evilly, "I guess this is what happens when you all don't follow my plan. Too bad, it'll be a shame destroying everything you ever knew." He knelt down, feeling the pain extorted by the shrieking Eleven and Mike. "Children who wanted to find their friend, when in hindsight, all it did was make things worse."

He glanced towards Green Arrow. "An explosive gambit that leaves your future uncertain."

"Beauty and the Beast, forced to die and live in peace," he sneered at Belle and the Beast, both traumatized in their experience.

"Rebels who end up dying for a death machine plan. A speedster so concerned with his fiancé's death, he can't find the time to save the one man who would give his life for hers. All of you have lives so quick and sad, it's pathetic. I could've saved you all, but now, I guess not."

Oleander turned and gazed at the masterpiece unfolding. Aris was becoming undone. The planet was slowly breaking apart and soon would become nothing. After everyone – especially the Flash – died, he could steal the Speed Force for himself and remake the universe. For once, victory was so close within reach.

"Stop," said a voice from behind him.

Something in Oleander worried. He didn't hear any more voices of pain, and suddenly he realized that wasn't a normal voice. Slowly, he turned around and saw a shocking sight; Iris West was up, her eyes white and her body resolute. "Are you kidding me?" He said. "How are you up?"

"Because before your father died," Iris said in a powerful voice, "he passed on his powers to us. You may have claimed the life of sixteen Omniversals, but we…we are not goons or minions, power sources for you to abuse."

The rest of the group got up now. One by one, they stepped forward and began adding statements.

"We're strangers and warriors," Logan said gruffly.

"Friends," Eleven added in.

"We know we'll mess up," said Harry. "But it's part of human nature, of being alive. That what helps us live more in the time we have."

"And we choose to do that," said Belle.

"Because if we don't, what else can we do?" The Doctor stated, hands at his sides. "Submit to your 'utopia?" Don't think so, chap. We screw-ups stick together."

All eighteen were finally in line, standing next to each other in unity. For once, Oleander realized that these people were more than just pawns to his game. They were a force of truth, and in his machinations, he'd made them all the more powerful.

"No!" He screamed. "I am a god!"

"Maybe," said Iris, "but do you want to know what we are?" As she said this, everyone's eyes became white and their stances relaxed.

"We are a Potluck, and your time is up."

 **Man! That was so much work! Well, what an ending, huh? I promise, the last chapter is going to be AWESOME! Might be a surprise after that, too!**


	21. With a Little Help From My Friends

Chapter 20

With A Little Help From My Friends

…

The eighteen people eyed Oleander silently. They weren't angry or quick to act, they just stood their ground like they would be there for a while.

After a few seconds of this, he braced and charged quickly at them all. "Raaaggghhh!" He screamed, blue energy shooting from his palms. Iris remained calm as he did this. When he was within range, she unleashed a right hook, colliding with his face and sending him off to the side. Dirt spluttered in his mouth as he looked up at the smiling reporter, her eyes now returned to normal colors.

"You thought you could control us," she said. "Understand and then destroy us. But the truth is, you can't. I'm sorry about how your life was, Oleander." She knelt down to get at his level. "But you need to stop, right here, before this gets worse."

Oleander sneered at her like a snake. "Forget it. I won't stop until I unite everyone." He spat at the ground in front of where she was kneeling.

In response to this, she sighed, got up, and took some steps back to the rest of the group. "Have it your way," she said. Iris looked at Harry, nodding for him to do something. Seeing her signal, he moved to stand in front of the skeleton.

"Alright," he said. "I bet you know everything about me. Dark lord, bad luck, the boy who lived and all that?"

"Yes," growled Oleander.

"Well, here's the thing," Harry replied. "You say you want to make everything better, but you aren't. You're only caring about what happens to you, not taking into account what everyone else living in the Multiverse thinks." He glanced at the rest of the coalition, making sure to think about everyone who he had joined with. "Are you sure you want to do that? I've known people who thought they were doing the right thing, but all it did was make things worse."

"This isn't you," the Flash said. "With those powers, you could actually help people. Isn't there a part of you that wants to do that?"

Oleander stared at the ground, lost in thought, then looked at them all. "Yes, I'm sure."

 _If that's how it's going to be,_ the scarlet speedster thought. He sighed. "Well, if you aren't going to change, then we'll have to stop you."

"How are you going to manage that?" He sneered.

"Simple," the Doctor replied. "All this time, you used your powers to try to merge everything. Doing that killed the beauty this planet once had. I reckon it would take the powers of the lost Omniversals to restore it." As he said this, he whipped out his sonic and scanned the barren surface.

The skeleton gave a heartless laugh. "So what? I killed them all."

Belle moved closer to the Doctor, her brown hair shining even in the dark conditions. "Except your father gave us his powers when you stuck him with us," the brunette said, "and I bet because he was the last Omniversal – beyond you, of course – "

"- We can do a fraction of what your dad did," finished Bill. Smiling, she said, "How about you think about what would happen with us having his power?"

The look of smug satisfaction on Oleander's face melted into a priceless gape. "What- no!" He yelled. "You can't!" He made to run right at her, but it was too late. Bill dropped to the ground and touched it with her hands. Her eyes glowed white before a surge of blue power went through her arms into it. A sudden tremor appeared, knocking Oleander onto the ground, but this one was different. It felt better…healthy.

"Let me help," Jyn said. She knelt down on the ground, spread her arms out, and made contact. Her own white energy went into the planet, creating another shockwave of power. Soon, both realized that everyone else was doing the same thing. More shockwaves peppered the ground, creating rips but not affecting the group in any way.

Once each one of the waves had subsided, the white energy left the group and hovered in mid-air, looking similar to a floating cloud of white vapor. It seemed to be looking at Oleander, who, upon seeing it, cowered in fear.

"No! No!" He screamed at the cloud, holding his hand up in fear and for protection. The cloud took no hesitation before darting at him. When it collided with the skeleton, something strange happened; blue energy left his body like a phantom, one wisp of it leaving at a time. Every moment this happened, he screeched in pain.

"What is happening to him?" The Beast asked, his eyebrow cocked in curiosity."

"Friends," said Eleven. Seeing how confused he was by her response, the Doctor decided to elaborate.

"What she's trying to say is that by attacking him with our energy, we've unleashed the ghost energy of the Omniversals. And every time we brought back some of Aris, they come out of him."

Just as he said this, the last of the blue phantoms exited from Oleander, who doubled in pain all the more. They all glared at him, looking slightly different and yet all the same. Fear was plastered on his face, and upon seeing them, he felt something off. He looked to his hand and was shocked to see it starting to disintegrate. Harry thought the process looked a little similar to what happened to Voldemort when he had been defeated.

Slowly in pain, Oleander gave the group a look of regret. "Oh…god," he said, "I…forgive me…please…" The disintegration continued to spread across his body. His chest, arms, and hands faded like blue ashes into the air. When his face was last, he attempted a sad smile, and then there was nothing.

Once he had disappeared from the scene, the sixteen blue spirits turned to the group. They made a small notion with their arms and bowed stoically.

"They're..bowing?" Kimberly noted, a little confusedly.

"They're thanking us for saving them," Green Arrow stated. Supporting this inference, the spirits gave them another sign of thankfulness before rising higher in the sir. A good distance above the heroes, they spread out and, to the viewers shock, disintegrated into the air.

Their ashes, unlike Oleander's, began to spread across the broken and dark landscape. They merged with the surface like nutrients. Several seconds later, the land began to gain color. Lush green fields sprouted out of the rot, replacing the devastation once there. The wrecked pieces of exposed land went back to being whole in the ground, the cracks vanishing as if never having been there in the first place. Finally, the blue trees sprouted to their proper places, and this time were accompanied by a bright blue sky. When all of the changes were done, the heroes stood there in awe, gaping at the result.

"It's back," Mike said supposedly.

"It looks like Earth a lot," said Felicity. "Wonder if they have wi-fi?"

Belle and Jyn looked at her confusedly, both asking simultaneously "Earth?"

Felicity realized the errors of her comment, mainly based on their backgrounds and times. "Uh…never mind."

The Flash smirked when she said this. "Sure," he said amusedly. On his left, the Beast knelt down and felt the grass. He stroked the grains before something came to his mind.

"If Oleander brought us here," he mused, "and he's gone, then how do we get back?"

At this proclamation, the group suddenly thought about it. How were they going to get back? It wasn't like they had the resources to do it themselves. Were they doomed to stay here, be left on the revived planet forever?

Luckily, fate had other plans in mind. Eleven pointed towards the other direction, saying "Look." Everyone turned and saw a miraculous sight; nine portals of blue transdimensional energy lay floating in the air. As the group dispersed to gaze at them, some members felt a connection to each portal themselves. Looking at his, the Doctor suddenly smiled; his TARDIS was in the other side.

"Great!" He exclaimed happily. "Bill, the TARDIS is in there!"

She moved next to him and saw the same thing. "You're right!" She said, excited as well. "Does that mean we can go home now?"

"Guess so," replied Jason, looking through his own portal to Angel Grove. "The spirits…they must've done this for stopping Oleander."

And the portals were true, as each one showed destinations ranging from Central City to the Leaky Cauldron. Everyone was glimpsing there homes so much that they had almost forgot their companions. That is, until Kimberly spoke up.

"So this is where we part ways?"

The wizards, superheroes, and ordinary people suddenly felt a personal pang as they realized what she was talking about. This journey they'd been in, it'd been hard and scary. But at the end of the day, they'd gotten to know one another and ultimately have a fun adventure. Now it was time for things to end, but could they really?

Nobody spoke until Laura moved forward towards Eleven. She gave her a silent look and then, to everyone's surprise, a hug. Although initially startled, Eleven relaxed into it.

"Adios," said Laura quietly.

"Friend," Eleven replied. Both girls embraced a little longer before letting go. The small mutant then glanced at Mike.

"It was nice to know you," Mike said earnestly. Laura simply nodded and then headed over to her father. A couple of feet away, Cassian made an effort to shake with the Doctor.

"While we never got off on the right foot," he said, "it's been a honor to meet you."

"Likewise," The Doctor responded. "Good luck with your rebellion. Love to help if I could."

"I think we'll be fine," said Jyn. "But thanks for the offer, gramps."

"Gramps?!" The Doctor bellowed. Jyn bit back a giggle at his priceless reaction.

Belle walked over to grasp Felicity's hands. "It was a pleasure to meet you!" she said excitedly. "I hope to understand your… technology someday."

"That's fine," Felicity said. "I bet a bookworm like you has cooler adventures than that in the works."

Both women laughed at the joke, not noticing the Beast watching their conversation. He was happy that Belle had made such a good friend, even if this... magic was too much for him to grasp.

"Thinking about something?"

Harry appeared at his shoulder, a smirk on his face.

"Nothing important," the furry figure remarked. "This excursion was…interesting, to say the least."

"Sure was," Harry agreed. "Never thought this kind of stuff was possible, but then, life isn't linear." The teen wizard extended his hand and attempted to pat the Beast on the shoulder, landing on his rib. "Good luck, wherever you're going back to. I get the feeling you'll need it."

As the wizard walked away, the prince felt a tinge in his heart. Was the young magician right? One thing was for sure: this experience was making him cautious about everything.

Harry walked towards Jason and Ginny, both giving their final farewells. "Hope you stay out of trouble," the witch teased.

"Don't worry," Jason replied, "we Power Rangers are tough. Nice to know magic exists, though." He gave her a smile and wandered towards Kimberly. Hearing a crunch in the grass behind her, Ginny whirled to find Harry there.

"What would I do without you?" She asked happily.

"Ditch a date at the Leaky Cauldron and head over to see George at the joke shop?" Harry asked whimsically.

"I'll take you up on that," she said.

At this point, everyone had gathered in front of their respective portals in pairs of two. Granted, some would see each other soon – like the Flash and Green Arrow – but for most, it was the final goodbye.

The Flash stepped forward, the light of the now healthy planet shining on his suit. "Guys, I want you all to know this experience was awesome. The beginning was hard, sure, but we all came together and made things better for a place that needed it. And even though this might be the only time we ever see each other, I'll never forget it. Till next time." The speedster waved a hand in salute at the others, returned by the various outcasts and heroes that made up the group. One by one, they began to walk through their portals. Some gave fateful last glances before leaving, attempting to give the adventure a good memory moving forward. Each gateway slowly faded, leaving the landscape as it was. When everyone else was gone, the know ones remaining were the Flash and Iris.

"Ready?" He asked.

The reported gave him a smile. "Yep. After all, we've got a future to change."

Barry picked up his fiancé, gave her a kiss, and quickly sped through the portal. It fizzed out of existence, leaving only the lush surface of Aris in its place.

And so, everyone returned, more or less the same. They all remembered what had happened, regardless of their encounters or opinions of Oleander. Some moved forward in life, while others gave up themselves in tragic heroism.

The meeting had been wrong in so many ways. But in the end, it had cemented bonds and created possibilities.

It was a Potluck, after all.

 **So after so long, and a lot of work, this fanfic is pretty much done. It was really fun and rewarding, mainly being my first piece and a dream crossover. Thank you to the constant readers and reviewers, particularly Shian1998. And so...**

 **There's more! I know, I said this was done, but if you want to know what I'm planning next, get ready for the epilogue coming to this soon!**

 **And with that, I drop the mic.**


	22. Epilogue

Epilogue

Aris. The home of the Multiverse. Formerly a collection of eerie mists and then a rotting apple, it had since returned to its glory due to the efforts of eighteen characters. Wizards, beasts, alien warriors, and unnatural children, they managed to quell the monster Oleander and release the captive spirits inside of him. If the planet had any life, it would definitely thank them tremendously.

Now the planet's fields and long grassy sections found themselves frequented by a series of blue phantasms. These specters were the remainder of Aris' previous inhabitants, and so far they enjoyed their new life without a doubt. They could explore the vast biomes the world had to offer, float in peace, and not be disturbed by malevolent forces.

But they didn't know everything. And here, knowledge meant life – or death.

Hidden in the peaceful air was a breach, an anomaly. The spirits couldn't see it, even in their incorporeal state. Powerful energy lingered from it like a virus, and what made it was nothing natural; if anything, it was worse.

When Oleander breached realities to bring the "Potluck" together, he unintentionally did something else. It wasn't just a simple trip to Point A and back. By breaking the barruers, he'd rewritten how the boundaries of the Multiverse worked.

In other words, worlds and their inhabitants were closer than ever. And when you left the equivalents of bombs next to each other…

A crossover was bound to explode onto the scene.

 **BOOM! Yep, Potluck was just the beginning. This mega crossover is going to be the reason why I do crossovers in the future. Essentially, they're all going to be in the same universe, using similar and different characters, with little threads connecting them all. Hope you like that, as the next crossover I'm going to do is Darknight Universe, a story concerning Batman and Steven Universe. Trust me, I'm pumped and excited to do it!**

 **However, I'll be taking a little break to focus on Astonishing Ant-Aint, which I've been ignoring for some time. My writing future is gonna be packed!**


End file.
